The Knock on the Door
by ReginaPhalange1
Summary: Post-S06E09 "The Doctor in the Photo" - A drunken serenade, misunderstandings and a conversation with Hannah sends Brennan away. Can Booth find her before she's gone for good? Rated M for Language and eventual, long-awaited B/B smut.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

_Happy hiatus, Bones-fans! *insert grumbles here* This story picks up after "Doctor in the Photo" this season and to my knowledge, contains no actual spoilers for the rest of the season. It is merely my attempt to tell a story for ardent Booth & Brennan shippers. I know you're out there!_

_I promise to update regularly (every day or two is my goal). The story is rated M for a reason (language and eventual smut alert!) so please read responsibly. Finally, pretty please review for me: it's my first fanfiction. Enjoy the story!_

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own Bones or its characters. If I did, the show would have to be on cable. Also, I'm not affiliated in any way to the Divinyls or their music. The song was inspiration for the story after it was stuck in my head one day…_

At the sound of the knock on the door, Brennan's heart sank. No matter who was on the other side of that door, she was quite certain she did not want to talk to them. There was a reason she was ignoring all of the calls coming in: even from Angela.

She was beyond embarrassed. The award winning, genius, top anthropologist in the world was utterly humiliated.

The knock on the door sounded again and for a moment, Brennan contemplated not answering. From this second knock, she knew it was not Booth's large hand upon her door and she experienced a small amount of relief from that fact. She had been avoiding his calls all day. The desire to remain in her seclusion was tempered by the realization that ignoring the person on the other side of the door could potentially be seen as cowardly. With determination she didn't know she possessed, she opened the door.

An upset Hannah stood on the other side, her blond hair hanging and her arms wrapped in a sweater as she was crossing her chest. She looked like she had just come back from working out and it did not appear as if the added endorphins had helped to better her disposition. "Hello, Temperance," she said quietly, not looking her directly in the eye. "Can I come in?"

Not finding her voice right away, Brennan simply nodded and stepped aside, illogically wishing it had been Angela or Cam on the other side of the door. Or her father. Or a suspect on one of their cases. Pretty much anyone besides Hannah.

"I think we need to talk about what happened last night."

Self-consciously, Brennan cleared her throat. "Yes," she managed, as she walked away from Hannah into her kitchen. She poured herself a glass of water to help the dryness she felt in her mouth and to delay the inevitable conversation. "Can I offer you anything?"

"No, thank you." Hannah sat down at her kitchen table. A wary Brennan sat down across from her and for a moment, neither of them said anything. It was as if Hannah didn't know where to begin.

"I apologize for my conduct last night," Brennan said first, self consciously tucking a strand of her auburn hair behind her ear. She might as well get that out of the way – she didn't like apologizing. "It was wrong for me to behave in such a manner publically."

Hannah frowned a bit. "You didn't just misbehave, Temperance. It would have been one thing to simply get tipsy at Dr. Sweets' karaoke party last night. It was a whole other thing to watch you get hammered and increasingly unhappy and then take to the stage and sing a rendition of "I Touch Myself" to Seely. My boyfriend. My lover." She reiterated, as if to drive the point home.

The humiliation rose fresh within Brennan and burned like acid reflux. She wished she didn't remember what happened that night, but she recalled how she had found it more and more difficult to watch Hannah cling to her partner throughout the night, touching and petting him in such a public way: kissing him and belonging with him. She was filling a void in his life where he had once held for her. She had truthfully been hurting since the night she told Booth she'd made a mistake letting him go and he had gently turned her down. Therefore, one drink had followed the other as the songs went on and on. The drinking had helped to make some of the musical renditions more tolerable, too.

Realization had come to Brennan somewhere in these past months that she loved Booth. Not in a way that would probably ever be enough for him (after all, she was still the same Bones she had always been) but in a way she simply couldn't deny to herself anymore. Perhaps she had suppressed these feelings for so long, opting for the rational approach to their partnership, that the metaphorical dam had finally broken when she had become inebriated at Sweets' karaoke night, much like it had when they had attempted to solve the Lauren Eames case. Sweets would probably call it a catalyst of suppressed emotion or some other psychological nonsense.

Nonetheless, she had no intention of vocalizing her feelings for Booth to anyone ever again; especially him. He was in a seemingly happy and committed relationship and Brennan knew she had no right to interfere with that again. She had been the one to reject him all those months ago, thinking she was doing right by him and his needs. It was what she was still trying to do.

"Do you know how hard it was to sit there and see you staring at Booth as you sang about touching yourself?"

Brennan pursed her lips and looked down. "I'm uncertain why I chose such a song. There was no particular motivation behind the choice. I hardly remember it."

It appeared that her statement had the unintended consequence of making Hannah more upset, rather than relieved, which had been her intent. "Let me refresh your memory then, Temperance. You sang about how you loved yourself and you wanted him to love you. When you feel down, you want him above you," Hannah's thin voice broke. "You wanted him to find you. You forget yourself and want him to remind you. Ring any bells now?"

Of course it did: she had a stellar memory and had been lying only moments before in an attempt to spare Hannah's feelings. Brennan knew every line word for word and, as an aside to the present situation, thought she performed the song with excellence despite her inebriation. Booth had dared her to get up on stage and Brennan knew she had a voice far superior to that of the Divinyls and could really "knock it out of the park", as Booth would say. She had not intended to make the song so personal. She only remembered not being able to look away from Booth's intent gaze as he sat in the crowd in the middle of the bar. It had felt like they were the only two in the room.

"I didn't mean it about Booth directly," she mumbled. "It was merely a song."

"You stared at him the whole time. You sang to him. Why else would you apologize?"

Silence permeated the room as Hannah waited for her to respond and she attempted to answer. How could she ever explain to Hannah that the thought of Booth having a different woman as the center of his life ate at her like a bone-eating fungus? How could she ever explain that despite the logic and reason that she used to navigate her life, Booth - and with all of the thoughts and emotions he solicited within her - had become a part of her?

"It was wrong of me," Brennan said, her chin coming up a bit as she met Hannah's frustrated expression. "Perhaps the enormous amounts of alcohol I consumed brought out an unexpected side of my personality. It certainly had unintended consequences: I never meant to cause any discord between you and Booth, or awkwardness between Booth and myself. I apologize. Again."

Hannah leaned forward, her elbows on the table. "Do you remember what Seely said to you when we all left? You know, when Angela and Hodgins were helping you in their car so they could take you home?" She paused for a moment. "I know he came over to you because I saw him in the parking lot. So, what did he say?"


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

The humiliation felt never-ending to Brennan. She recalled the way the audience hooted and hollered after her song ended but all she really remembered seeing was Booth, leaning forward on in his chair not clapping and focusing his all-consuming, hot gaze on her, and the way Angela insisted on driving her home. She remembered Hodgins opening the door of the car and spreading a few towels for her in case she threw up while Angela, Cam and Sweets spoke nearby (probably about her embarrassing performance). Worse still, she recalled how she had run off stage only a few minutes before they all left for the evening and how Booth had come to her side, his eyes full of concern and gently holding her elbow and shoulder to steady her as she walked to the car. His touch was so familiar that tears sprang to her eyes.

"Great voice you have there, Bones," he had said softly as they walked to the car as she leaned into him. She remembered how his voice had sounded a bit huskier than normal and it sent an uncontrolled shiver down her spine. "Next time you regale the group, maybe pick a song that's rated PG?"

She had let out an uncharacteristic short laugh. She blamed that reaction on the alcohol as she had attempted to put one foot in front of the other while the world seemed to spin. Why had she consumed so much alcohol?

"You don't have to help me," she had muttered, not liking how dependant she was feeling at the moment. "Hannah's waiting for you. You need to go to her." She couldn't even look up at him.

"No, _I need_ to be here with you."

The way he said it touched her: did he really still need her? Was he inferring an emotional need beyond the physical act of walking her to Angela's vehicle? With Hannah standing over there, did it even matter anyway?

They had reached the car and he leaned her gently against it, turning her so that she faced him. She recalled how her breath caught when she saw his brown eyes burning with intensity and a desire she couldn't escape – one that she never wanted to escape. She wondered if he was imagining her masturbating while thinking of him as the song had suggested in no uncertain terms. After all, hadn't that been the reason she had picked it in the first place?

"Please," she'd asked in a wavering voice, "please let me go."

It was then that Booth looked down at his two hands that had been holding her upper arms, his thumbs so close that - if he extended them out - would have been caressing her painfully aroused breasts. Her breathing increased when their eyes met again and she saw the look of pure lust in his eyes. He let go of her arms. "I'll never let you go, Bones," he said very softly and she couldn't tell if he had said that more for her benefit or his own.

His words touched her more than his hands had just a moment ago. A shiver ran down her spine. "You have to," she said softly, not looking at him. "It's what you wanted."

He shook his head to deny it, but she knew his thoughts were elsewhere. "Can I ask you something?" he asked, his voice nearly a whisper even though their friends weren't scattered within earshot. She had nodded, not trusting her voice. "Is it true, what you sang?" He leaned towards her as his voice dropped low and he grounded out; "Do you want _me_?"

She couldn't help the small gasp that escaped her lips. There was no mistaking that he was asking a question entirely around sex and desire. She felt it. She wanted him. There was another deeper aspect to his question, though and even she – Temperance Brennan – knew it was about more than sex with Booth, and for the first time, she welcomed it. She wanted all of him and everything he wanted, too.

A few tears escaped as she looked up at him: the only part of her world that was steady. "Yes," she whispered aloud, surprising even herself with honesty. No regrets: there was no going back now. "Yes, but more -"

"Sweetie, are you ready?" Angela had asked, coming around the corner of the SUV and effectively cutting her off and deflating the moment between the two of them. Booth, his expression stoic and unreadable, quickly stepped away as if she had burned him. She saw as he had looked away from her and back to Hannah, who stood outside of the bar as Angela stepped in between them.

He had looked back at Hannah, the woman he had chosen. The woman he loved.

"What did he say?" Hannah asked again, bringing her out of her painful memory of rejection from last night.

Brennan swallowed the lump in her throat and forced herself to look back into her accusing eyes. "He said I should have picked out a song that was more appropriate for a general audience. Why do you ask?"

"Because I love him, Temperance," she declared. "Seeley is with me and now I'm afraid that you are trying to take him away from me."

She remembered how Booth had looked back at Hannah after she told him she wanted him. "I'm not trying to do that," Brennan said softly. "I could never do that. We both know Booth, Hannah: we know that no one can make him do anything he doesn't want to do. And he's loyal," she paused and looked Hannah right in the eye and remembering the conversation she'd had with him that rainy night in the car when her world had turned upside down for three days. "The two of you are happy together. Please do not let my lapse in judgment when I was impaired influence your trust and faith in Booth. I promise to not behave in such a way again."

Hannah leaned back and crossed her arms. "Well, that's good. If the two of you could maintain some semblance of normalcy before we move to New York, I think that would be good for everyone involved."

Brennan felt as if she suffered an acute Myocardial Infarction at Hannah's words. Booth was moving away with Hannah? He was leaving their partnership? He was leaving her? "What?" she gasped.

She noticed a hint of satisfaction in Hannah's blue eyes and wondered briefly how she could have ever convinced herself that she was friends with this woman. She wanted her sunglasses back. "I was offered a position as a lead political reporting correspondent for ABC news, stationed in New York. Booth is coming with me, of course. He's transferring to the New York Bureau."

_**Author's Note:**_

_**Don't lose hope, fellow shippers! Remember who's telling her this…**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Author's Note:**_

_**And, because this conversation with Hannah has to end (I don't like writing her character at all- wonder why?), another chapter for you in the same day!**_

**CHAPTER 3**

Her words seemed to hang in the air as she processed what that meant. "He would have told me," she whispered, unable to stop the tears she felt gathering in her eyes and the anger she felt bubbling inside. She determinedly stopped herself from allowing the tears to escape. "Booth would have told me if he was ending our… partnership."

"I'm sure he was planning on telling you. He was probably going to do it last night, until he saw how drunk you got," Hannah responded, leaning back in her chair.

"He wouldn't leave Parker," she reasoned aloud, feeling as if she was metaphorically grasping for straws, as Booth would say. "He would tell me if our partnership was over and he wouldn't want to leave Parker. Or Pops."

"He and Rebecca are working out the custody arrangements for Parker, and I'm sure he'll come to visit his grandfather," Hannah said with a shrug, as if Parker's relationship with his father was an insignificant detail compared to this job opportunity for her.

"It doesn't sound like Booth to just decide to do this," Brennan said, leaning forward as the words escaped faster and faster from her lips. "He has an established life here and his son his here and I'm here and in New York, he wouldn't have the world's leading Forensic Anthropologist to work with. He would have to endure a potential partnership with a substandard scientist if continued in the same career path." She shook her head. "No, Booth would have informed me of this possibility before he accepted this change to our partnership."

Hannah crossed her arms – again. "It might have taken him longer to work up the courage because he didn't know how to tell you that – along with this move to New York - we'll be getting married."

This time, Brennan felt as though her heart simply stopped. Of course her heart was functioning properly as it should, nonetheless, at Hannah's declaration she simply seemed to shut down. Now, a move to New York made more sense. Now, she understood why he would not have had an easy time consulting with her about how his life was changing, based on their past history. Hadn't this been something she had secretly feared since first being introduced to Hannah? Hadn't she acknowledged this possibility to Booth himself when he had told her that fateful night that he had to move on from her?

"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you," Hannah said, her voice slightly softer than a moment before. Meeting Hannah's gaze, she recognized a flicker of remorse in the blond woman's eyes: clearly, Brennan must have appeared as affected as she felt by the news. "Honestly, I was almost as surprised when I accidently saw the ring in his drawer. The reason he's delaying is because of you, Temperance." She shrugged. "He doesn't want to hurt you."

Of course he wouldn't want to hurt her. He was Booth. "When -" she searched for her voice, "When?" It looked like that was all she was going to get out for the moment.

"The move to New York will happen in about a week. I'm not sure about the wedding: we haven't talked about that quite yet."

It astonished Brennan how her life could have changed so radically in just a few days. If only she hadn't become inebriated, she would never have embarrassed herself in such a way to a man who was planning on marrying another woman. Maybe Booth would have been the one to come to her, then, and tell her what was happening. Instead, she found herself alone with the woman who had Booth's love and who would have that love and devotion forever. It shouldn't matter really to a rational person, but she found instead that it was all too much to bear.

Finally, Brennan found her voice. With her chin raised a little, she stood up with steely determination. "It seems as if we have no disagreement then which we must continue to discuss," she said in an even voice. "I'm sure you and Booth will continue to be quite happy together and you do not need to concern yourself with any interference from me."

Hannah stood up as well and slung her purse on her shoulder. "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this. Despite what you may think, I do appreciate your support for Seeley and myself. I know it can't be easy…"

"I will notice his absence, yes," Brennan interrupted, "But I am quite certain the FBI will have no trouble finding another agent to work with the Jeffersonian. I will always support Booth in his pursuits and in that which fulfills him." She attempted a casual shrug. "Now, if you don't mind Hannah, I have work to do tonight for my publisher that I must attend to."

The look she gave Brennan suggested that she did not know what to make of her response. Nonetheless, she said, "Of course," as she began walking to the door. With one final look at Brennan, she said, "Take care," and left her standing alone in the middle of her apartment.

In the silence, Brennan took a deep breath. She still had her work at the Jeffersonian, she reasoned. She still had her writing career. She was still the best forensic anthropologist in the world. In a moment of honesty to herself, though, she realized that none of it really mattered now.

Her phone beeped an indication that she received a text. She walked over and, seeing the familiar name appear, her heart beat faster. How many more times would she receive a message from him?

'_Bones, call me back right now or I swear to God I'm coming over'_

Clearly, ignoring his phone calls led to this, but the last thing she wanted now was to see him. As she stood there in her entryway, her hand limply holding her cell phone, she knew she could not bear to look into his eyes and see his care and concern for her: not when he was moving on without her. Clearly, he needed Hannah more than he needed her. She couldn't even bear to hear his voice, full of sympathy or – God forbid – pity as he told her he was marrying someone else. No, she could never face him again.

Quickly, she flipped the phone open and she knew she had to make it clear to him to stay away. Otherwise, he would ignore her and show up anyway. Then she really would break apart: she felt as if she were clinging to her last threads of control. She typed back, _' Don't. I am fine. Leave me alone, Booth'_. As an afterthought she added, _'Don't need you.'_

She stared at the screen for a long moment - it wasn't true: not one part. She wasn't fine and she didn't want to be alone. And she needed him… desperately.

However, he was no longer hers to call upon, to work with or to rely on for companionship. He had rightly built a life for himself without her and she needed to let him go. Her eyes glanced up to the shelf where she had a picture of the two of them. It had been taken by Angela once upon a time at a black tie benefit they had all attended. He had his arms around her waist; she had her arms around his impressive torso. Both of them were smiling and looking at each other.

There was no point in staying here in her empty home, surrounded by memories and facts she could not change. She had embarrassed herself at the bar over Booth and weeks ago during the Lauren Eames case: she wasn't about to do it again, for either of their sakes. The rational thing to do was to simply extricate herself from everything that would remind her of him. She could be the one to end everything first; maybe she could live with it then.

Now, as she grabbed her suitcase out of the closet, there was only one thing left to do and only one person she owed an explanation to.

_**Author's Note:**_

_**Don't worry, fellow shippers – everything is not as it seems. I wouldn't do that to you, especially after this season we've been having… *sigh***_

_**And, pretty please, review for this nervous, first-time writer! I'd love to know what you think and if you're enjoying the story thus far. I promise an eventual happy ending, so that counts for something, right? **_

_**Stay tuned!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Author's Note:**_

_**Wow! Thanks SO much for all the people who have put this story on alert and the reviews that have come in! You've made this Bones fan giddy with delight –you have no idea how much I really appreciate it! Without further ado…**_

**CHAPTER 4**

Booth was in a foul mood as he drove to his office Monday morning. He spent the weekend mostly stomping around his apartment, growling at people who dared to call him and contemplating marching over to Bones' apartment and knocking the door down if she didn't let him in.

The problem was, if he gave into his alpha-male instincts (as Bones would say) and confronted her at her front door, he wasn't sure he could trust his own actions. After six years, he now knew that she wanted him. It was more than admitting she regretted letting him go: she wanted _him_. He probably would have grabbed her, kissed her and never stopped.

Booth felt like a part of him that had been sleeping for the past year woke up again on Friday night. He had tried so hard to keep his romantic feelings for Temperance Brennan at bay because – truth be told – the tough ex-sniper and current FBI agent was terrified of being hurt or rejected by her again. He had felt like a man walking wounded since that day they had left Sweet's office and she'd pushed him away, trying to cover the pain with the false hope of a future with Hannah while under the pretense of mere friendship with Bones. But as Friday night went on and she drank more and more, he began to see in her face how upset she was and when she began to sing, he knew the reason why. His heart wanted to burst with joy while at the same time; he had a hard-on the size of the Mount Everest as she sang about imagining him while touching herself. Then, in the parking lot he had heard the words straight from her kissable pink mouth.

Part of him still couldn't believe she had actually admitted it. And what the hell did "Yes, but more" mean? Would she have told him she loved him?

He swung into a parking spot and shut off the car quickly, then headed for the elevator. It took every ounce of willpower not to head to the Jeffersonian this morning and demand an explanation from his partner. Not for the song or what she said afterwards that Friday night, but what she said in her text on Saturday. Her words had haunted him and hurt him deeply. Inevitably, it was her words were what had stopped him from going to see her that night. She didn't need him? Really? How the hell could she say something like that after all these years, when they had saved each other's lives and relied on each other? When he couldn't bear the thought of moving away, as Hannah wanted, because he couldn't imagine the rest of his life without Bones in it? Didn't she feel the same?

And, Christ, Hannah had been upset.

She had wanted to talk Friday night when they got back to his place, but he had feigned exhaustion and pretended to fall asleep quickly, when in reality he had laid in bed for hours. After Bones' admission a few weeks ago about how she regretted letting him go, he hadn't had a decent night's sleep since. When he closed his eyes, he'd remember the sound of her crying from the car and the sight of hopefulness and vulnerability when she'd told him she had missed her chance. It tormented him.

Friday night was worse, though, when he'd lain in bed. All he had been able to think about was how the wrong woman was laying beside him. What a mistake he had made. Why had he given up hoping Bones loved him? Why hadn't he dumped Hannah the moment she admitted she knew letting him go was a mistake? Why had she supported his relationship with Hannah this whole time if she cared about him? Was she going to say that she loved him? Around and around the questions and self-doubt floated in his mind, completely denying him of sleep.

Saturday morning Hannah had disappeared before he woke up, leaving a note that she was running errands and working out. He had been relieved by her absence. Somewhere in the time she was gone and as his calls to Bones went unanswered, he made up his mind: his heart had never left his partner, no matter how he had tried to push past it.

Hannah showed up at his place Saturday evening, not long after he'd received Bones' text. When she had seen the look on his face, they both knew where the conversation was going. After many tears on her part and a confession of love for Bones on his (and one broken clock she had picked up and thrown at him), she had left for good. In the end, he was sorry he had hurt her, but not sorry to watch her walk away. He loved Bones and he always would.

It had nearly killed him on Sunday not to go to her, but he had forced himself to relax and to give her space. She was clearly avoiding him but Monday would come and she couldn't ignore him forever. He intended on showing her just how much he needed her, even if she claimed to not need him in return.

Finally reaching his floor, he brushed past his co-workers on the way his office. A few glances told him that they recognized his pissed-off attitude right away and rightfully didn't stop him with the latest updates on their cases, random gossip or news.

The manila envelope on his chair caught his attention immediately and set off warning bells in his mind. He grabbed it quickly and his heart skipped a beat when he recognized Bones' handwriting. She had simply written his name on it.

Christ, this was not going to be good.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

Tearing it open, a DVD fell out onto the top of his desk, along with some legal-looking documentation. Was she ending their partnership? Was she too upset to speak with him? He powered up his computer, a million questions running through his head as he waited until he could insert the DVD. He should never have given her space after what happened on Friday. Why the hell hadn't he gone to see her?

Finally, he inserted the DVD and it began to play. He recognized Bones' apartment right away and the perspective of a webcam. He realized he wasn't breathing and forced himself to do so as Bones sat down in front of the webcam. She looked tired, he saw immediately. Her auburn hair hung loosely and her eyes looked red-rimmed. Had she been crying? Jesus.

"Booth," she began on a shaky breath, "I almost don't know where to begin. First," she was steadying herself, literally, against the desk as she leaned forward, "I apologize for my conduct Friday night." Her chin came up a bit. "It was never my intention to become so extremely intoxicated, and certainly not to perform a suggestive song in front of you - and the audience." She looked down. "I'm quite embarrassed by my actions and I regret if it's caused you any inconvenience."

He knew she hated apologizing, but he almost hated hearing it worse. There was no need for her to apologize to him! On the contrary: knowing that she wanted him, that she thought of him in the all-consuming-passionate way he had so often thought about her had thrilled him. God knew half the reason he was up all night Friday night was because his imagination had been in overdrive, picturing Bones acting out the lyrics she'd sung.

"Secondly," she continued, "I want to inform you that I am ending our professional partnership, effective immediately." His mouth gaped as she continued, "This is no reflection on you or our cases together," she assured him. "However, if this partnership was going to draw to a close anyway, I wish to do so immediately and not prolong the inevitable. This way," her voice sounded hoarse, "it will be easier for you to begin your new assignment in New York."

How the hell did she find out about New York? He thought angrily, resisting the urge to break something on his desk. He hadn't even considered the move without talking to Bones one last time. How could he, when it would mean leaving her? He hadn't even been sure he was ready for that step with Hannah yet. Now, it was off the table completely! He grabbed his phone, ready to call her immediately.

She took a breath. "Which brings me to the true purpose of this message, which I'm sure you are wondering about." She paused briefly. "I am ending our personal relationship as well," she said, looking up for the first time at the webcam. His heart stopped beating. She couldn't do this. Not like this. Where the hell was she? Why was she doing this? Didn't she know what she was doing to him?

There were tears and determination in her eyes. His Bones looked devastated. "I have decided that I cannot, in all good conscience, simply remain friends with you anymore. I thought when I returned from Maluku and you from Afghanistan, that we could simply retain both our professional partnership and our friendship, but I have discovered," her voice shook a little, "that our friendship is simply… not enough anymore." She steadied herself and looked directly at the camera. "I have feelings for you that go well beyond the parameters of friendship and camaraderie. You have left a metaphorical mark on me, as you explained sometime ago." She leaned even closer, and he wished more than anything to reach out through the screen and touch her. "I have found that not only do I desire you physically, as I have for a long time, but I also desire a deeper connection with you: something that lasts."

And… the heart that had stopped beating exploded.

Bones loved him. It was everything he had hoped for and feared in one brief moment. Here she was, effectively telling him that she didn't want to see him anymore and in the same breath, telling him that she wanted more with him. That he had left a mark on her. He wanted to find her this moment and never let her go.

He was almost out of his chair when she continued, "Nonetheless, I realize these sentiments come at an extremely inconvenient time, since you are planning this move to New York and marriage to Hannah. Therefore, I am removing myself as a factor in your decision-making."

Did she just say _marriage to Hannah_? What the fuck?

Now, Booth saw a tear escape her blue eyes and fall down her cheek. Christ, Bones, what was going on in your head? he wondered. "I will always want the best for you, Booth. I am happy for you that you have found what you are looking for in Hannah." She looked anything but happy. "I am quite certain that the two of you will build a mutually satisfying life together. I'm sure that, after this message, you will understand my reasons for extricating myself from your future. I am afraid that after last Friday I have not only publically humiliated myself, but given Hannah the impression that I could be a potential rival for your affections." She took a deep breath. "I assured her that was not my intent, but I do not want to leave any doubt for either of your sakes."

She assured her? When had Bones spoken to Hannah? Certainly it wasn't Friday night.

"There have been many times I thought I may have lost you, Booth, to tumors or gunshots or explosions," she continued, tears escaping the corners of her eyes. "Each time, while I may have appeared rational and collected, inside I was inconsolable and terrified to imagine my life without you." She drew a breath. "Recently I came to realize that there was more than one way to lose you. I'm sure if you were here, you would tell me that we could always remain friends, however, it would be more beneficial to simply sever our connection so you can begin your new career and," she paused, "marriage without any hindrance from past feelings you may have had."

A few more tears fell down her porcelain cheeks. "Many years ago, I asked Rebecca once why she didn't marry you when you asked her. We discussed her situation then and she told me her reasons. Then she told me something that resonated with me even though I didn't understand it at the time: she said the two of you missed your moment. The two of you had a sexual rapport but the moment was gone and you moved on." Her tearful eyes came up to the camera as Booth swallowed the lump in his throat. "I missed our moment, Booth."

His heart hit the floor, though, when she continued speaking, her eyes almost vacant and her expression despondent. He had never seen Bones so… hopeless. It scared the bejesus out of him. "Therefore I am leaving my life behind here." She drew an uneven breath. "I am having a letter couriered to Cam Monday morning, requesting an indefinite sabbatical. Along with this message, you will find documentation that includes a copy of my will, and a letter that names you as the arbitrator of my estate. I hope you don't mind," she glanced down, "but I arranged for a sum of money to be transferred to a bank account for Parker. You are also listed on this account and it's on one of the enclosed documents. It was my hope that he could use this one day to further his education, but I leave it to your discretion, Booth."

Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, was all he was thinking. She was running away and getting her final affairs in order and leave it to her to be rational and organized in a moment such as this. What the hell did she mean 'leaving her life behind'? He was certain he stopped breathing again. He didn't know if he'd ever breathe again if something happened to Bones.

"I have closed my apartment down, but you have a key. Since you are inclined to sentiment," she smiled a little, "I have a box sitting on my kitchen table that you may take, if you wish. It contains memorabilia we have gathered these past six years: photographs, the small dolphin charm of my mother's, my Brainy Smurf, Jasper the pig figurine and so on. I'm sorry, Booth," she said, looking at him again as he berated himself for not going to her on Saturday, or staying with her Friday: or for ever leaving her side in the first place. "I know that you would want closure, as Sweets would say, to our six years together. Please know that my absence isn't meant to hurt you. You have to let me go. I need to let you go." Her voice broke. His heart broke. "This is the best way I know how - swift and decisive. Now you can move on." She shook her head. The end of the video was coming; he knew it and dreaded it. "Knowing you has been the highlight of my life, both professionally and personally speaking. I wish you every happiness."

And just like that, she was gone.

_**Author's Note:**_

_**Poor Booth and Brennan. Get ready for some angst –it'll be worth it in the end!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Author's Note:**_

_**I'm so touched by the reviews I can't even tell you! You guys are awesome – thank you for reading! This is the most fun I've ever had writing and I'm so glad to do this for/with you. Let's see what happens now that Brennan has bolted on Booth, shall we?**_

**CHAPTER 6**

_Day One_

The next minutes passed in a torturous blur. He tried calling but the call went directly to voicemail. He left a panicked message, but something told him she wouldn't be calling him back. Storming out of his office, he paused only briefly to issue an immediate All Points Bulletin on Bones. It comforted him only marginally to know that every eye in law enforcement would be looking for her and he didn't give a damn about the consequences. She was his missing person: he was going to do everything in his power to bring her back.

What if he was too late? Where would Bones run?

He drove well over the speed limit as he raced to the Jeffersonian. Perhaps, just perhaps, she had left a clue to her whereabouts in her office. Maybe Angela would know more. Via his phone he called a few of his contacts at airports and talked to Charlie back at headquarters about starting to trace Bones' money trail. He called an army buddy of his at Homeland Security and asked him to alert the airports. Somewhere between calls the first traces of doubt crept in as he parked and got to the Jeffersonian: was he overreacting? Was she just staying at her dad's or something? Maybe she changed her mind and he'd find her here, working over a set of old bones. She'd look up at him, exasperated at his panic and begin spouting some random scientific gibberish about the anthropological implications of such a discovery.

It was Angela that he almost ran into as he charged through the familiar lab doors. "Booth!" she exclaimed, and immediately he recognized the same fear in Angela's eyes that must have been in his. Shit, he thought, all traces of hope vanishing into thin air. Bones had left them, too. "Have you talked to Brennan?" she demanded.

"No -"

"A courier just dropped this off at my desk a minute ago," she held up the letter she grasped tightly. "It's from Brennan. She's leaving-"

"Angela, I know-"

"What do you mean you know?" Bones' best friend demanded angrily. "She just took off! She wouldn't return my calls after Friday night. Did the two of you talk? Did you say something to make her leave?" Hearing his wife's nearly-hysterical voice, Hodgins came up to them. "What happened between the two of you? Why would she do this?" Now, Cam and Sweets emerged from her office and approached them as the eyes of all the squints watched them. Booth wanted to know what they knew. "What did she tell you?"

"I got a letter too, Booth," Cam interjected before Booth could respond. "She's asked for an indefinite sabbatical effective immediately. She apologized and said she wouldn't be able to perform her tasks here at the Jeffersonian."

"Listen," Booth barked, a little more sharply than he intended, "I don't know what's going on. That's what I'm trying to figure out. Angela, what did your letter say?"

Now, the beautiful brunette began to get teary as she handed him the letter as Hodgins put a supportive hand on her shoulder. He scanned it quickly as she said, "She thanked me for my friendship. She said she was sorry but she had to leave her life, and all of us, behind. She wished a happy and long life together for Hodgins and me."

"She said it was hard to see the two of you together in a committed relationship when it was the type of personal, self-inflicted entanglement that she wanted to share with me," Booth added, his voice dropping as he read her words. It was then that he noticed his hands were shaking.

"Agent Booth, I stopped by this morning to speak with Dr. Brennan about what happened Friday night," Sweets said, his hands in his pockets and concern written all over his youthful face. "Obviously, Dr. Saroyan shared her letter with me. Did the two of you speak after her… performance Friday night?"

"Not really," he replied, his brow furrowed. In a few sentences, he recapped for them what happened on Saturday, from the hypothetical New York transfer, his break up with Hannah (none of them were surprised and Angela even rolled her eyes) to his brush-off text from Bones. Then, he told them about the DVD he found this morning. As he relayed her message, he watched Cam's eyes widen and Angela wring her hands and the letter he had handed back to her. The tension in the room was palpable.

"Oh, God," Angela said when he finished. "It sounds so final."

"She couldn't have gotten far," Hodgins commented, giving Booth a sideways glance as if to confirm the thought. They were looking at him for reassurance: as much as he wanted to, he couldn't give them any. He was more shaken than he thought possible.

"Bones ran away," Booth responded as the squints wondered if he said it more for their benefit or his own. "She ran and I will find her." He said this to Angela primarily, who was unknowingly clinging to his arm. "She has to know the truth at least."

"Such a reaction is to be expected," Sweets commented. "Remember, Dr. Brennan's parents effectively abandoned her at 15, with her brother leaving after that. She was in the foster care system, and she is used to people leaving her. She must have gone to the extreme after what happened Friday night and fearing that Agent Booth would be leaving to go to New York. She would have processed such news as another abandonment in her life."

Sweets was only echoing the thoughts bouncing around in his head on this hellish morning. "I've got an APB out on her and I have alerted many of my contacts to watch out for her. I'm going to her apartment now to look for clues and to see if her car is there. If she contacts any of you," he said pointedly, his arms crossed, "I'd better be the first person you call within seconds of the contact. Seconds," he reiterated.

"Seeley, she left you a copy of her will. You don't think she'd do something… drastic… do you?" Cam asked, her eyes flicking between Booth and Sweets. The implication seemed to cause all of them to freeze in place until Angela covered her gaping mouth with her hand and Hodgins rubbed her arm.

His brown eyes narrowed dangerously at the concept. "She's a fighter, Cam," he ground out, his voice rough and scratchy. "Bones would never," he stopped. "She would never -" he pursed his lips. Jesus, he couldn't even form a coherent sentence around the idea. Not Bones. Not after all they had been through together. Her words _leaving my life behind_ echoed in his thoughts. His mind wouldn't let him go there, so he dropped it and turned for the door, his fists clenched. "I'm going to her place."

As he walked away, he heard Sweets answer: "It's unlikely, Dr. Saroyan, however, we must prepare ourselves. Dr. Brennan has clearly lost her sense of purpose."

In the end, Booth found nothing useful at her apartment. Her car was in its parking spot in the garage, the furniture and kitchen sat strangely still, her cell phone sat on an end table and her laptop remained where it had been when she recorded that fateful message. The place felt lifeless without her.

An overnight bag was missing, along with her ID and passport and the realization of that implication sent a cold shiver down his spine. She could go anywhere in the world. He might never find her again.

He couldn't even look in the box of mementos on the table and he literally stood for five minutes in the middle of her apartment trying to decide whether or not to take it with him or leave it for when she came home. In the end, he decided to leave it where it sat for now because he had to believe she would be back for it. He pretended not to notice the photo of the two of them together sticking up in the corner.

That afternoon he discovered that she had withdrawn a significant amount of money on Saturday from one of her accounts, which gave him a small amount of hope until he realized it was cash she had withdrawn, which was nearly impossible to track. She had indeed opened another account in his and Parker's name and the thoughtfulness of the gesture stung him. Otherwise, there had been no fund activity, no sightings of her at airports and no hits on the APB. If only she hadn't gotten a day's head start on him! He was at his wits end.

When offices closed at the end of the business day and when evening fell on Washington D.C., Booth found himself back at Bones' apartment. He didn't know what drew him there, but he knew he couldn't go back to his apartment. Not knowing what to do with himself, he passed by Bones' liquor stash, poured himself a glass of water instead and sat down on her couch. He forced himself to close his eyes and tried desperately not to imagine the million horrible scenarios playing out in the corners of his mind. He wouldn't be there if she needed him. If he didn't see her again, she'd never know how she really was the center of his life.

Somewhere in the early hours of the morning, he succumbed to sleep. He lay facing the door.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Author's Note:**_

_**Batten down the hatches, boys and girls…**_

**CHAPTER 7**

_Day Two_

It was a little after seven a.m. when Booth knocked impatiently on the hotel door. He had already heard her moving around inside and he shifted uncomfortably in anticipation of what was to come. This morning there had been no word from Bones, not that he had expected it. Nonetheless, the absence of reasons to worry did nothing to quell the fear that he would never see her again.

The door yanked open and he was face to face with the woman he had effectively dumped two days ago. "Hannah."

"Seeley."

She seemed surprised to see him and a quick glance of her outfit told him that she was on her way to either an appointment or a meeting for work. "Can I come in for a moment?" he asked evenly, although inside he was boiling in rage. There was a very specific reason he was here and he wasn't leaving until he had answers.

"Alright." She stepped aside to allow him into the room. In the corner, he noticed her packed bags.

"I need to know if you talked to Bones on Saturday," he said bluntly, as the fabric of his leather jacket pulled when he crossed his arms and his stubbly jaw set: he hadn't bothered shaving. He looked intimidating.

Immediately, he noticed the trepidation that sprang into her eyes. Her nose went up a bit. "I did, yes. I went to see her late in the day on Saturday." Now, she crossed her arms also. "I felt it was important that we discuss what happened Friday night."

Heat lit up Booth's brown eyes. He knew Hannah was behind this somehow. "You went to talk with her _before_ you and I even talked? You confronted her about something she was embarrassed about?"

"Don't give me that, Seeley," Hannah snapped, crossing her arms and pulling the fabric of her tank top and blazer tighter. "You didn't want to talk Friday night when we got back to your place. It didn't matter anyway: I saw it in your eyes when you approached me in the parking lot that night, after you walked Temperance to the car. You are in love with her. You were with me, but you loved her."

Booth took a step back and he couldn't help but feel guilty. Hannah was right; he had used her and made himself believe he had loved her when his heart had always known Bones was the center of his world. Nonetheless, she was the last person to see Bones before her disappearance and he was going to find out what Hannah knew. "I do love Bones. I've always loved her, Hannah," he said, his voice softer. "I'm sorry I hurt you and I'm sorry I wasn't completely honest with you about how I felt towards her - I told you this two days ago. But two days ago Bones was still here. You'd better tell me right now what the two of you talked about."

"Go ask her yourself."

"I can't," he snapped back. "She's missing, Hannah. Gone. Disappeared." Jesus, it still hurt to say it out loud. "Bones ran away, told me she was disappearing for good and left me a copy of her will and I am going to find her. You're going to help me." The words just tumbled out.

Hannah shrugged. "Well, that's too bad, but it's no concern of mine. I'm leaving for New York today."

She moved towards the door. Booth's hand shot out and grabbed her by the upper arm, animosity for the heartless blond building inside of himself, alongside his own self-loathing for believing she could ever be the one for him. He realized it now and thought back to a conversation he'd had with Bones one-upon-a-time: being with Hannah had been – hands down - crappy sex. He wished he had realized it sooner. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me what I came here to find out."

Her blue eyes narrowed. "Is that a threat?"

"It's a fact," he retorted, trying to contain his anger. "What did you say to Bones?"

She shook the arm that he held and he let it go free, although he could have easily held on. "I asked her why she sang a song about masturbation to you. She blamed it on the alcohol. I asked her what the two of you talked about in the parking lot, and she said you told her not to pick a controversial song the next time she did karaoke."

"And you mentioned New York."

"Yes." She shifted where she stood but kept her eyes glued to his. "I told her that you valued her friendship and she should try to keep it that way because it would help in the transition of moving to New York."

"Why did you do that?" His voice was deadly calm.

"Because the two of you were friends. Partners. Isn't that what you told me, Seeley?" Sarcasm dripped from her words.

He pursed his lips. "But at that point, you said you saw yourself that I was in love with Bones." Hannah quickly looked uncertain of herself, which had been his intent. "You know what I think, Hannah?" he demanded. "I think you went there to put a wedge between us and to get her to cut her ties with me. I think you went there to put her in her place because you felt embarrassed, not because you cared about me. I think you went there to hurt her."

"You were my boyfriend. My partner. Mine," she snapped back, pointing to her chest. "I had every right to ask her to back off!"

"You told her we were getting married!" Booth thundered; the control he had been trying to maintain snapping away. Hannah took an involuntary step back. "You told her I was moving to New York because I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you!"

"Yes!" she screamed back, her hands on her hips but nervousness in her eyes.

"We hadn't even talked about that, Hannah! What the fuck made you think that I wanted to marry you?"

"I found a goddamn ring in your drawer!" she shot back. She had _never _seen Booth this wildly out of control and it frightened her a little. "I'll admit it surprised me, because I didn't think we were really there yet, but it was in your drawer!"

Booth didn't know if he was more upset she had gone through his drawer or the fact that he hadn't hidden the ring better. "It was my grandmother's ring. Pops gave it to me because Jared gave our mother's ring to Padme. I had absolutely no intention of actually proposing to you."

Stricken, he saw the color drain from her face. Immediately, he felt a pang of remorse for hurting her so bluntly. She looked down. "You mean, you weren't considering marrying me?"

He shook his head slowly. "No," he replied, his voice quieter. "I mean, I had been hoping to get there one day and to want to get married but I just never felt like we got that far. It wasn't," he paused, "enough."

"Because you couldn't get over Temperance," Hannah said, tears forming in her eyes. "You were still in love with her."

"Yes. I always have been and I always will be."

She blew out a breath. "You were using me."

Now, Booth stepped closer to her and put a hand on her arm gently, a hint of remorse seeping in for losing his temper. "No, Hannah. I told you this when we broke up: I didn't know I still loved her. I honestly thought I was moving past those feelings. I was trying to believe you were the one."

"And yet she was there with you, every day, solving exciting cases and lusting after you." Hannah jerked out of his touch, venom in her eyes. "You just couldn't stay away from her. Get out, Seeley." She walked over to the hotel door and yanked it open. "I never want to see you again."

Booth's jaw set. Part of him wanted to strangle Hannah and the other part of him wanted to apologize profusely for hurting her. Ultimately, he settled on walking to the door. He had gotten the answers he came for: Hannah has been Bones' source of misinformation. "I can easily arrange that, Hannah. But if you ever come between Bones and me again I can guarantee you'll be seeing a lot of me then."


	8. Chapter 8

_**Author's Note:**_

_**Happy New Year's Eve, everyone! If you're like me, maybe you're gearing up for a party tonight. I will likely be performing a Temperance Brennan rendition of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", and if the night gets really crazy, a Lance Sweets version of "Put da Lime in da Coconut". It's a good thing you know me only through text…your ears would be thankful. **_____

_**But let's get back to the story. Since it's in a short chapter and I don't want to leave you on a cliffhanger for the end of the year, I'm adding Chapter 9 as well. Be safe and have fun welcoming in 2011 everyone!**_

**CHAPTER 8**

_Days Three through Eight_

The rest of the day and the ones that followed ran together in a horrifying haze for Booth.

Max had fumed when he found out from Booth that his daughter was missing. Russ had cried and talked about leaving her after her parents left them. After getting their word that both of them would contact him if they heard from her and a reluctant guarantee from Max that he wouldn't hunt Hannah down to kill her (or himself, for that matter), he left.

Hoping that she wouldn't want to go too far away from her family and friends, he spent his days going from hotel to hotel in D.C., showing her picture while flashing his badge and demanding answers. Place after place gave him sympathetic looks and told him that she hadn't been there. He had to take personal leave from the FBI, because clearly he wasn't going to be taking any cases and his days would be spent looking for his partner.

Where the hell was she?

Every moment of the day Booth was consumed with tidal waves of emotion. It reminded him of how he had felt when Bones and Hodgins had been kidnapped by the Gravedigger years ago: overwhelming fear and helplessness. In many ways, this was much worse for him. He had no one to blame but himself for letting them get to this point and this time; the woman he loved didn't want him to find her. It was sending him over the edge. Angela told him on day five that he was becoming "like a pissed off robot" when she tried to get answers from him or to just talk with him. He couldn't be good company, though. If Bones wasn't found alive and well, he was sure he'd never be good company again.

After Afghanistan, when she had looked at him with almost pleading eyes asking if they would resume their partnership, she had taken a hold of him again. All the feelings for her he had tried to move beyond in the past seven months had resurfaced stronger than ever and in that moment, Hannah hadn't factored into his decision: he had to be Bones' partner. Every day since then, he had worked to make himself believe it was a professional, friendly relationship so he could justify the idea of 'moving on' without her. In the end, though, it hadn't worked at all. That fateful Friday night when he had realized his Bones wanted him – _wanted him_ – it was more wonderful than he had ever thought possible. He knew he was the best version of himself when he was with her and she knew him in a way that no one ever had before. There were times he almost felt dizzy with the power of his desire and emotion for his partner. He would do anything for her.

As the days passed with no word, he saw his primary mission now as being a rescue effort. She was being held captive by doubt about the depth and all encompassing nature of his feelings for her, and it was his fault that he hadn't realized sooner how she really felt about him. Somewhere along the way his wonderfully independent Bones had let him become a part of her structured world. Now she thought he was going to leave her behind and that wanted to spend the rest of his life with someone else, all because he had deceived himself this whole time. The thought of that made him sick.

He had to save Bones from what he had done. That's what he was thinking the moment his phone rang on day eight. "Seeley?" It had been Cam's hesitant voice.

His gut hit the bottom of his SUV as a fresh wave of panic set in at the tone of her voice. Something was terribly wrong. His vision began to blur around the edges and he swerved the car over to the side of the road. "Did you hear from her? Did she call?" he demanded quickly. "What's going on?"

"I don't even know if I should tell you this…"

He saw red now. "Camille, I swear to God if you don't tell me this instant-"

"They pulled a body from the Potomac today, Seeley," she rushed out in a soft voice. "It's badly damaged and there's no way to know for sure yet-"

The dread overwhelmed him like a dam breaking. He didn't want to know what she was going to say. He just didn't - he was not prepared to hear anything further. "Know what?" he asked in spite of himself.

Cam sucked in her breath. "Right now, it fits with a description of Dr. Brennan."


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

Booth sat along the roadside watching cars go by and if someone had a gun to his head he couldn't have told them exactly how long he ended up sitting there. Time seemingly stood still. Not Bones.

At some point, he realized he had dropped his phone. Cam was no longer on the line, so he must have been there for awhile. He was positively shaking when he stood up and got behind the wheel of his SUV and on autopilot, he drove to the Jeffersonian. Never in his life had he felt so numb: not even when serving in battle.

Cam looked relieved and horrified all in one moment when she saw him almost stagger through the doors of the familiar lab, wearing a t-shirt, jeans, his jacket and an expression of disbelief. "Seeley, thank God," she breathed, coming over to him. Quickly assessing him, his vacant red eyes, unshaven facial hair and the defeat in his shoulders, she grabbed his hand. "We don't know for sure."

He had to force himself to ask in a raspy voice: "What do you know?"

She led him into Bones' office and away from the examination platform. "It's a female between the ages of thirty and thirty five with auburn hair. This person has an arm injury consistent with the one Dr. Brennan sustained we were doing the Harbinger case. The weight, height and foot size matches."

"DNA?"

"I'm waiting for the results right now. I have Clark looking at Dr. Brennan's medical charts to look for any differences between the two and Dr. Hodgins is examining trace evidence as well. Angela is, well," Cam looked down, "quite upset."

Booth imagined that was an understatement if there ever was one. "I have to see her, Camille," he looked down at his friend, his hands on her shoulders. "I'll know – if it's Bones, I'll know."

She shook her head vehemently. "No, Seeley. No. Listen to me," she demanded, her own hands coming up and gripping his impressive biceps. "I won't let you see what's there. The body is extremely damaged by the elements."

"It doesn't matter," he said, bracing himself but determined. He started moving towards the door despite Cam's grasp. Nothing was going to stop him from going to her now, even a friend like Cam. "I'll know if it's her-"

"No, you won't," she argued, her voice becoming harsher. "There's no face, Booth. There's no face."

With that, his breath left him and he collapsed on Bones' couch, putting his head in his hands with his elbows on his knees. With Cam's arm around him he sat lifelessly, too numb to feel anything with eight days of fear overwhelming him. This was the terror he hadn't allowed himself to really consider - this was a reality he never wanted to face. They had been in dangerous situations before and God knew he had worried about her so many times. But he had been there to protect her. Even in Maluku, unbeknownst to her, he had hired a local agency to keep tabs on her for him: not that they had ended up being very reliable. Even now, deep in his heart he couldn't accept that the person from the Potomac was Bones. He just had nowhere else to look. His hands were utterly tied. How could she have left?

After a time, Cam went to find water for him and he sat alone, his head still in his hands and silent on Bones' couch. How many times had they been in this room together? Eating on this couch or going through case files? How much time these past six years had he spent imagining the two of them tangled in each other on this very couch?

"Booth." His hands dropped and his brown eyes traveled up to see Angela, standing before him, her hands clasped and her face demonstrating the evidence of tear streaks. "Can I sit with you?" she asked.

He nodded, not trusting his voice.

She sat down gingerly beside him, her hands on her knees. The air stilled. "How did this happen?" she asked quietly. "How did we ever get to here?"

It took him a moment to respond. "We're here because I wasn't honest with her or myself, Angela. We're here because I never told her just how much I'm head over heels in love with her. We're here because I wasn't the one to take her home Friday night."

She gave him a sympathetic look. "I thought she would come back. I thought I would see her again." More tears escaped. "What will we do without her, Booth?"

Several heartbeats passed. "She's not gone for good, Angela," he said finally. "That can't be her."

"How can you be sure?" 

He wasn't sure at all, but he couldn't tell her that. She hadn't seen the haunted look in Bones' eyes on the DVD message. She hadn't heard the toneless nature of Bones' voice when she spoke, or saw the tears she cried when talking about missing their "moment". He needed a lifetime more of moments with Bones – he could never go on without her. "Because I love her," he said, looking Angela in the eye. It wasn't an explanation really, but it was all he could say. It was all he could focus on.

One of Angela's hands came over and sat on top of his and for the first time their eyes met. "She loved you, Booth. She absolutely loved you."

Seeing the conviction in her eyes, Booth couldn't help but know that Angela meant every word of it. It gave him reason enough to continue breathing from one second to the next. His eyes left Angela's inquiring ones and traveled down to her hand, where he saw her wedding band on her hand. Inspiration struck like a bolt of lightning. His heart seemed to be jumpstarted and Booth shot to his feet. "Was her mother's ring on her finger?" he demanded quickly.

Confusion came across Angela's features. "What?"

Booth dashed out of the office and ran right into Cam, spilling a little bit of water. "Was her mother's ring on her finger?"

He looked like a man possessed, so it took Cam a minute to answer. "No rings." She gestured to the platform.

"Are – are the fingers still on the body?"

"Yes." Cam started to see where he was going with this.

Booth looked at both of the women, hope bubbling inside him for the first time in eight days. "Her mother's ring wasn't in the apartment. She left everything personal to her except that: Bones took it with her." He gestured towards the platform. "That's not Bones."


	10. Chapter 10

_**Author's Note:**_

_**Happy New Year, everyone! We're halfway through the story – thanks for hanging in there! You're reviews are such inspiration for me. I hope you're having as much fun as I am. (And yes, I haven't forgotten – a happy ending is coming!)**_

**CHAPTER 10**

_Day Nine_

It took less than 4 hours from the time Booth arrived at the Jeffersonian for the DNA results to confirm that the person pulled from the Potomac was not Temperance Brennan. It took less than 1 hour after that to identify the person and Booth spent the afternoon of the ninth day of Bones' disappearance talking to the family of the victim, Abigail Turrott. It was determined by Cam that the young woman committed suicide. When Angela had shown Booth a rendering of Abigail, the similarity in her features to Bones made him sick – literally – and he understood why the team thought it could be Bones. It could have been Bones.

He had placed a hand on the clasped hands of Abigail's sister as she cried. He had passed a tissue to her mother and watched the grief fill the face of her father. He thought about how well he understood what they were feeling even as he desperately hoped he would get to see his loved one again. The not-knowing would drive him crazy, but he was afraid the grief with a complete loss of Bones would end him.

It was that day, too, that he had driven Parker home from school and his son had turned on the radio, flipping channels as he often did. When "Hot Blooded" came over the airwaves it shook him to the core. Parker asked him why he had gotten so pale, and he spouted out some answer about not feeling well to his son. How could he tell him the truth? How could he explain to him that the song on the radio was one he shared with Bones: one he had almost been blown up during an evening at her apartment and sung with her onstage years later? It was their song.

Parker had known his dad wasn't telling him anything but in a sweet gesture of maturity for his age, his son had let it go, probably recognizing that his dad was about to sob any moment. His son was growing up too fast. Bones would miss seeing him grow.

At the end of the ninth day, back at her apartment, he fingered gingerly the CD he had found in her box of memorabilia. He couldn't put on the music. Instead, his mind replayed how phenomenal she had looked playing air guitar to the song in her apartment; how exuberant and stunning she had looked. Then, when they had been on stage playing and singing it, he recalled how carefree and happy she had been. He held on to the memories – and the CD – as he eventually fell asleep on her couch, facing the door.


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11**

_Day Ten_

It was around dinnertime when Booth stepped out of the rental car and stood facing the Pacific Ocean in the small seaside town of Cannon Beach, Oregon. A charming, tourist town that was famous for its Haystack Rock out in the ocean, it had been the one place he had been desperately trying to get to all day, ever since the phone call he had received from Bones' publisher at seven a.m. that morning, waking him from the two hours of sleep he had managed that night.

Her publisher Jan, who had been part of his initial net of Bones contacts in those first days after she had left, called Booth right away when she got into work. She had discovered that a bookstore in Portland had held their scheduled book signing over the past weekend with the world famous author, Dr. Temperance Brennan, even though they had been told not to expect her by the publishers. Jan had talked to the employees of the bookstore personally and discovered on her own that Bones had purchased a book specifically about Haystack Rock and implicated that she wanted to see it personally since she was leaving town.

He had practically jumped off the couch at the news and he scrambled to get his things together that he had carried with him these past days he had been staying at her apartment. Bones was alive! She was at a goddamn book signing, but she was alive!

By the end of the morning he had been a flight to Portland, rented a car and now here he was, staring at the same rock in the ocean Bones had wanted to see. For the first time in ten days, Booth felt real hope.

He started at the first hotel closest to the rock that he could find. When that one failed to recognize her, he went to the second. When he showed her photo to the thin blond college kid behind the reception desk, he saw a flicker of recognition pass his eyes.

"Do you know her?" Booth demanded as he held up his badge. If the FBI only knew how many times he had been flashing that thing to get answers, he would probably be out of a job.

The kid, whose nametag read Jake, pursed his lips and looked entirely unhappy that Booth was disturbing him from his boredom. "Yeah."

Booth felt like Parker on Christmas Eve – thrilled and full of anticipation. He had found her! All the things he wanted to say to her began popping up in his thoughts. "Where is she? Which room?"

Jake looked at him warily. "I can't tell you, man. It's hotel policy. You can leave a message, though."

Immediately, Booth's brown eyes glinted with anger. "Listen, I don't give a damn about hotel policy. This is Temperance Brennan and she's a missing person. We've been looking for her for ten days. Tell me where she is right now."

"That's not what she called herself. Sorry, but I still can't tell you. I'll lose my job."

Booth had it. Leaning over the desk, he grabbed Jake by the color of his preppy green polo shirt emblazoned with the hotel logo and hauled him forward. "This is between us, kid. I won't tell your boss, but you'll lose more than your job if you don't tell me what I want to know right now."

He could tell he scared the kid sufficiently, because he saw the panic set in. "Okay! Okay! Christ! Let me down!" he pleaded, as Booth dropped him immediately. "She called herself Kathy Montenegro. She was here for three days – Saturday, Sunday and Monday. She hardly said anything when she checked in and out. She paid in cash."

Hope came crashing down around him. Kathy Montenegro... her character and her friend. Now he knew for a fact that she didn't want to be found, especially by him. "She's not here anymore?"

"No! Sorry! Jesus Christ." The kid furiously tried to straighten his polo shirt.

"Did she tell you or any of the other staff where she was going?"

"No – honest she didn't. I would know, too, because us guys talked about her a little bit. She was hot," Jake licked his lips nervously and Booth wanted to lean over the counter and deck the kid. It took a lot of effort to resist that urge. He couldn't believe it: he had come so close to finding her that to have her leave just two days ago was heartbreaking. He wasn't leaving until he looked around himself, though.

"I want to see the room she stayed in."

"We have guests in there now," the still shaken Jake replied. "I can tell you something else, though." Booth's eyes snapped back to the kid's. "I know she visited with the lady in the gray house about two doors down from here. I saw them talking a couple of times when I was walking around."

"Which house?"

"Turn left when you go out the door and it's the gray house with the massive garden. Mrs. Chappelle lives there – she's in her thirties with brown hair."

It was somewhere to start, he thought grimly as he turned to leave. He paused and dropped his card on the desk. "If she calls here for any reason, or comes back to stay, or you find out anything else, I expect you to call me right away. Got it?" After receiving a nervous nod from Jake the receptionist, he walked back outside into the salty sea air.


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12**

Right away, Booth saw the pleasant looking home with the massive garden the kid had described. It was a small but beautiful place, with a view of the ocean that was breathtaking. He opened the gate and strode up to the front door. After a couple of knocks, he heard movement inside and a pretty woman with brunette hair opened the door.

"Hello," he began, "are you Mrs. Chappelle?"

"Yes," she replied, keeping the screen door between the two of them closed. "Can I help you?"

Booth held up his badge. "I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth from the FBI. Might I have a word with you?"

The woman regarded him with kind but wary eyes as she emerged from behind the door a bit. "I suppose so." She smiled a little. "You have kind eyes and you look official even in a jacket and t-shirt: I guess I'll trust you."

He forced a smile in return. "I'm hoping you can help me, ma'am."

"Ellie," she corrected.

"Ellie," he acknowledged. "Have you seen this woman recently?" He held up the picture.

She nodded right away. "Yes." Concern crept into her eyes. "Is she a fugitive or something? She seemed nice."

"No, ma'am. She's a missing person. Her name is Temperance Brennan."

Ellie was clearly troubled by the news: she wore an expression of doubt. "She told me her name was Kathy Montenegro. She said she was a guest at the hotel next door and she was here to see the sights. I thought she was very nice: a little bookish, very smart and nice. Is she in trouble?"

The woman seemed generally concerned for Bones' well being, so he assured her, "No, I don't believe so. How did the two of you meet?" Booth asked.

She smiled. "She complimented me on my gardens, then proceeded to tell me the medicinal purposes of many of my herbs and plants. I thought it was kind of funny that she knew so much about it and we started talking."

"Did you get to know each other pretty well? Did you spend a lot of time together?"

"I did get to know her. Why we have a seat over there?" she asked, gesturing to the small table and chairs on the porch behind him. When they sat down, she said, "Like I said, we started talking about plants, then she told me after I inquired that she was here as a tourist to see our Haystack Rock. I gathered she wasn't from around this area at all since she didn't have a lot of knowledge about the roads from here to Portland and she eventually told me she was from the East Coast." Ellie shot him a glance. "I could tell she didn't want to tell me more specifics than that, so I let it go. We spent the first day talking for about two hours, then we had dinner together the next day right here. She sat right where you are now."

His heart ached a little at the knowledge that he had been so close to being where she was. "I don't mean to break the confidence of the friendship the two of you started," Booth hedged, "but can you give me a sense of those conversations? I am… a friend of hers."

She pursed her lips a bit, her expression one of reflection. "Well, let's see. I learned that she has a brother and that she is a novelist. She didn't talk much about her life in terms of details." Ellie's eyes met his. "To be completely honest with you, Agent Booth, we spent most of the time talking about relationships."

He could have been hit by a truck in that moment and been less surprised. "Bones?" He couldn't keep the incredulity from his voice.

"I'm sorry?"

"Never mind," he muttered. "Did she… talk about anyone in particular? Friends, family?" He paused. "A partner?"

Ellie tried to suppress a small smile as she gave Booth a 'once-over' look, with a clear, knowing expression that he was more than just a friend or partner. "It's you she talked about, isn't it? You're the man that Kathy – I mean Temperance – loves, aren't you?"

Booth knew that the hurt/love/longing he felt had to be written all over his face. He didn't care. "She talked about me?" he asked, his voice quiet and almost pleading.

"Not by name specifically, Agent Booth." Ellie leaned forward, her brown hair falling gently over her shoulders as her elbows rested on the table. "As we began talking that first day, I told Temperance that I was a science teacher on sabbatical, which is why I had so much time to tend these lovely gardens that surround us. My husband passed away three months ago." Unshed tears shown in her eyes. "The school thought it would be best to send me home to grieve, but we didn't have any children yet and so I've been here all alone all this time." She drew a shaky breath and saw sympathy in her guest's eyes. "Temperance was very kind. She told me that she was in mourning too, in a way, and that she had lost someone very dear to her. A man she had loved very much." She looked directly at him. When Booth couldn't find a voice to respond, Ellie continued, "After awhile she spoke of unresolved emotions, rationality behind her decisions and regrets about things left unsaid. We bonded in our sadness."

Finally, Booth was able to clear his throat from the lump that had formed there. "Did she – did she tell you that she regretted her feelings for me?"

"No, not at all," Ellie kindly assured him, resting her small hand on his. "Agent Booth, I don't know you at all, and clearly I didn't know Temperance very well either, but I can assure you that the woman who sat where you're sitting now was very much in love and she knew it. I didn't expect you to ever show up here, since she had implied that your romance was undeniably finished in one way or another and I had no way of knowing she was a missing person, but I can tell that whatever happened between the two of you touched her deeply. She was," she shrugged, "missing you."

He let out his breath slowly. "Thank you," he said softly, forcing a smile to his face. He had heard all he really needed to know. "I mean it: thank you. Just knowing she was here, that she had someone to talk to and that makes me feel better. Knowing how she felt about me," his voice trailed off. "Well, that means more to me than you'll know. Would you contact me if you hear from her again?"

"Absolutely." Ellie gave him a sympathetic smile. "I hope you find her, Agent Booth. I hope whatever is going on between the two of you gets resolved so that you can be together." She stood up and he stood up with her. With a gentle touch, she took his hands in hers. "I know real love when I see it, Agent Booth. I've experienced it and I've seen it on her face and on yours. Whatever it takes, don't give up on that love."


	13. Chapter 13

_**Author's Note:**_

_**You guys are awesome for reviewing! It is SO appreciated. I'm glad many of you liked Ellie – I was worried about introducing a new character, but I wanted to give Booth a dash of hope again: poor guy's really been through the ringer. I hope you enjoy this chapter! **_

**CHAPTER 13**

_Day Thirteen_

Booth didn't give up after the trip to Cannon Beach via Portland, but he did go home. He spent the next few days renewing efforts to get in touch with bookstores and contacts through Bones' publishing company. Clearly, she was honoring the public appearance commitments she had made as an author, but he was disappointed to learn that her next book signing was scheduled two months out. It became another dead end.

Every morning he woke up with the knowledge that Bones was out there somewhere. Every day he got out of bed because Ellie Chappelle assured him that wherever Bones was, she loved him.

Day thirteen (which felt more like day thirty) marked the first time he shaved since she disappeared. Trying to appear normal for his son, he picked up Parker bright and early that morning and headed to his parish for Mass with the hope that his prayers would bring her home.

Booth was on his knees towards the end of the hour of Mass, when beside him, Parker tugged on his arm. "Dad!" he whispered urgently. "Dad!"

"What is it, buddy?" Booth asked, keeping his eyes closed in prayer.

"Is that Bones?"

Booth's head shot up and looked in the direction Parker was pointing. His breath caught at the momentary sight of a person behind an old pillar. Auburn hair about shoulder length. The corner of a trench coat. A glimpse of the side of her face. Bones!

His body reacted immediately and – before he knew what he was doing – he was out of the pew turning to try and get a glimpse of her again. "Stay here," he whispered quickly to Parker as he dashed down the side aisle to the other end of the church where he had seen her, not caring that he was probably making a scene. His eyes darted everywhere, looking in vain for her. He knew the church well and went for the side exit, concluding she had to have left through there. The church was pretty open: how could she have just disappeared behind the pillars?

Immediately he wondered if he had finally lost his mind, imagining her here at his church. Thank God Parker had seen her first, otherwise he was sure he'd end up on Sweets' couch with a new prescription or back in the hospital for more brain tumor scans.

Booth made it outside, where his feet screeched to a halt on the sidewalk pavement. The only sights to greet him were the trees that lined up along the empty street and the parked cars of the parishioners inside. Bones was nowhere to be seen.

"Bones!" he called. "Bones!" Nothing. No matter where he looked, he couldn't see her. What direction had she taken? Where the hell could she be hiding? He began to look around the parked cars on the street, but saw nothing unusual. She couldn't have gotten that far. "Bones! I know you're here – I saw you!" He looked under the nearby cars and rounded the corner of the church building where there was an open lawn. As the moments went by without a sound or a sight of her, his heart began to sink. This couldn't be happening again: he couldn't be _this close_ to her and not reach her!

Why on earth had she come to his parish? Wasn't she still under the impression he would be in New York with Hannah? Why would she show up here? Was it possible she just… missed him? "Bones!" he called again, his voice almost hoarse with strain, "Bones! Come home. Please come home." He didn't care if it sounded like he was pleading. He was a desperate man. "I need you! Please, please just come home!" he called one last time, certain only the wind heard is words.

He stayed outside a few minutes until the people filed out of the church. Waiting. Hoping. A long time later, he left the church with only Parker beside him.

* * *

Her heart raced even after she slipped down the street to the car she had rented in cash upon her return to D.C. Temperance Brennan had no idea what possessed her to go to Booth's church that morning. There was no rational reason. The only semi-explanation to her behavior had been the dream she'd had the night before: she had dreamt that she had been sitting in a church pew with Booth beside her. She had been dressed in white and he wasn't carrying his gun. In her dream she had felt so happy, so safe, so… cherished. Therefore, when she had awoken this morning her recollection of her dream propelled her to this place. She put no credence in dreams, as she was certain Sweets would, but the image of the church stayed with her. She had been here with Booth before; that was reason enough.

She had been entirely, utterly shocked to spot him in the pew with Parker. As she hid behind the pillar, she wondered if he was visiting Parker for the weekend: perhaps it was part of the custody arrangement with Rebecca. Perhaps he had returned to finish putting his business affairs in order or to move his things. The important thing was that he was alright. It proved that Booth was continuing on without her, as she knew he would.

That thought should reassure her, but somehow it left her more bereft than ever before.

When she stole a final glance, she was alarmed to catch Parker's eye and immediately, he got his dad's attention as she made a hasty exit from her hiding place to the side door. She couldn't remember the last time she had moved so quickly. She should never have come! she chided herself. The sole purpose of her disappearance had been for his benefit and here she was, messing it up.

As Booth had exited the building, she had pressed herself against a tree trunk down the block, keeping her fingers clutching the sides of her coat and hoping that he wouldn't come down the block and find her standing there. She couldn't go to him. There was no way she could explain her actions with reasons he would understand.

A few tears escaped, though, as she heard him move around and call her name. His voice sounded so painfully familiar saying her nickname: had it only been two weeks since she had last seen him? It seemed like decades ago.

"Bones!" she had heard him shout in a voice full of emotion. "Please come home." He had paused. "I need you! Please, please just come home!"

Temperance Brennan waited until she had driven a few miles from Booth's church, then pulled her rental car over to the side of a residential road and cried harder than she had when her parents left her and Russ as teenagers. This time the fault for abandonment had been hers.

Booth needed her. Somehow, some way, he needed her. All of the evidence in the world couldn't change that fact.


	14. Chapter 14

_**Author's Note:**_

_**You guys have been so phenomenal reading along with the story, adding it to your favorite stories lists and writing fabulously encouraging reviews! I want you to know I've appreciated each and every one of them. Truly, you all are awesome. Maybe I'll even try to write another Bones fanfic in the near future, just for you…**_

_**Since my initials aren't HH or SN, I won't keep you in suspense much longer. The end is on the horizon!**_

**CHAPTER 14**

_Day Fourteen_

Frustrated, Booth pushed the button of the elevator harshly, waiting for the doors to close to take him from the floor of his office down to the lobby of the FBI building. His first day back at work from his two week personal leave had been a disaster. It was a good thing he hadn't bothered to shave. He had to prepare documents for the court for a killer he and Bones had put away almost a year ago, only to fuck up the report in ten different places. Half of his inbox's emails had been about cases they had solved together. He was entirely backed up with two weeks' worth of work. His director had called him in to ask if he wanted to continue his work with the Jeffersonian without a partner, or if he wanted to simply be promoted to a position where he could oversee cases instead of work them. He couldn't imagine either scenario.

He had worked until seven o'clock and then had gone to the workout room to try and relieve some of his tension there. But, an hour later after pushing himself to the limit, showering and changing into jeans and a t-shirt, he realized he was as wound up and distracted as ever. So here it was: eight o'clock at night and he was just leaving work. To make his night even worse, he had given Rebecca the keys to his SUV because her car was in the shop and she needed to take Parker to visit her sick father. The elevator doors opened to the lobby, which was empty except for the security guard present. Booth gave him a short wave as he walked outside. Immediately, he pulled his coat lapel up against the wind. The sky was extremely dark and cloudy and he could smell the rain in the air, which he was certain, would douse him anytime.

He walked, lost in thought. He didn't need a cab to drive him home yet: he really needed to try to clear his head and ignore the fact that Bones still didn't want anything to do with him. She had seen him. She had probably heard him call for her. She knew he was here in D.C. – yet his phone hadn't rung last night and she hadn't come to knock on his door. He could only conclude that she didn't want anything to do with him.

For the first time in two weeks, Booth seriously wondered if Bones would honestly want him to give up and let her go.

Stopping in his tracks at the thought, Booth looked around for the first time at where he had wound up while walking and brooding. His mouth gaped a bit when he saw the open courtyard, steps and familiar wall. _"Nothing happens unless first a dream" – Carl Sandburg._

This is where he had tried with Bones – this is where they had been on that fateful night he had tried to take a gamble on a real romantic relationship with her. This is where they had kissed: where she had pushed him away and told him she couldn't change who she was. This is where, for the first and only time in his life, he'd felt like his heart had shattered into pieces.

Yet here he was. One year later.

Taking a deep breath, Booth realized he knew the answer: no, he wasn't going to give up and let her go. He knew he couldn't do that; Bones was a part of him and always would be. She had been for six years, no matter how each of them may have tried to deny it at some point. She just had to know – she just _had_ to – how much he loved her. He didn't want her to change who she was, but to simply allow him into her world and believe that she was all he ever needed. She was all he could hope for.

A sudden bolt of lightning flashed across the sky as if to highlight his emotional epiphany and within moments, the rain began to fall.

It was a moment of providence that had Booth turning his head: at least, that's what he decided later. He had turned his head to a building next to the courtyard when the flash of realization struck him. It was a hotel: a hotel _right by_ the courtyard. For the second time in two days, his feet had a life of their own and he found himself racing towards the hotel in the rain without a thought in his head. He knew she was back in D.C. It could be a long shot, but maybe… just… maybe…

Looking like a man possessed he burst through the door of the fine-looking establishment. Dripping water on the wooden floor and not giving a damn, he charged over to the reception desk where the weary middle-aged receptionist eyed him thoughtfully. "Can I help you?" he asked Booth.

Booth's badge and the picture of Brennan were on the desk before the man finished the question. "I'm Agent Booth with the FBI. Do you know this woman?" he pointed.

"Um, um," the man stalled, clearly upset by Booth's intimidating and semi-panicked presence, "Yes, yes, sir. She's one of our current guests."

Booth couldn't believe it. Hope and joy exploded inside of him, much as it had that fateful Friday night when Bones had serenaded him with the song "I Touch Myself" and he realized how much she wanted him. He had found her! He hadn't felt this all-consuming joy since Parker was born. "Her name is Dr. Temperance Brennan," Booth said, his voice full of excitement instead of the demand that had been there moments before.

The man glanced at his computer screen. "We have her listed as Joy Seeley. Is she in trouble? Is she a fugitive?" the nervous man asked.

Booth's heart turned over at the name: she had put her birth name and his together, right in this place so close to where the two of them had gotten so close… he was touched to the point of holding back tears."No," he said, answering the man's question quickly, "she's not a fugitive. She's a missing person. Do you know if she's here now? What's her room number?"

"Go up to the 4th floor, room 406." The man pointed at the elevators.

Booth was halfway to the elevator. "Thanks," he called back. He had waited two weeks - actually six years, if he was going to be honest - for this opportunity. The search was over: she had been with him in his heart the entire time and he was going to do something about it.


	15. Chapter 15

_**Author's Note:**_

_**Good ol' Bones… where would you get such great quotes to work with? Thanks Sandburg, Newton and Einstein!**_

**CHAPTER 15**

Pulling the robe around her, Temperance Brennan exited the bathroom with a cloud full of steam trailing her. She had hoped that a shower would have calmed the apprehension she was experiencing at the prospect of what she was going to do first thing in the morning. Glancing to the opposite side of the room, past the neatly made bed, she looked at the stack of folded clothes that sat inside her travel bag, as if waiting for her to decide what to do.

Isaac Newton's quote jumped to mind: _'For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction'_. The fateful Friday night karaoke disaster had been the action she regretted. Every decision she had made since then had been in reaction to the events of that night. She had humiliated herself in front of her friends, her partner and his girlfriend. She had told him she wanted him and then watched as he turned to look back at Hannah. As a result, the two women had shared a conversation permanently engrained in her memory and she had left her life behind to disappear. Everything since then had been a nightmare of non-reasoning, illogic and emotion. She missed the controlled nature of her lab, where concrete answers waited for discovery and the ambiguous nature of her longings and wishes were set aside. How did average people function every day if they let their emotions run away with themselves? It was a mystery to her. All she knew was that there was no more room for reacting anymore.

Her eyes wandered out the window, which was covered by falling rain. Somewhere below sat a wall with a different quote: somewhere below that window she had lost the only man she had ever loved. Fear had governed her actions that fateful night and fear what was drove her away from her entire life. _The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting the same results…_ she thought.

Her hand came up and unzipped the bag, preparing the contents to be set inside. It was time to take action. She couldn't live with this kind of cowardice anymore. She couldn't live with the pleas she had heard in Booth's voice yesterday outside of the church. What was he doing back in D.C.?

Stopping her packing because her wet hair - which was now naturally wavy after the shower - was dripping on the clothing, Brennan took a step back. The way which Booth had called her back home echoed in her mind. His voice seemed to reflect far more than the parameters of friendship, even now. He really wanted her there. His words from the disastrous karaoke night haunted her: _"I'll never let you go, Bones". _Evidence was beginning to suggest that he meant it.

With a sigh, she reached over to the telephone and called room service for more towels, since the rest were damp and she was tired of dripping. One more night, she thought to herself: one more night and she would make things right again. She would take action.

She was going to see Booth tomorrow. She was going home.

_**Author's Note:**_

_**Another cliffhanger, I know! Evil Regina… sorry! The next chapter will be longer and (hopefully!) worth it. In the meantime, I know so many of you appreciate my daily updates. I'm going to try to continue to do that, but I wanted to forewarn you that I may be delayed a bit, since I'm hosting a big event on Saturday and up to my phalanges in work for it. I'll do my best, though - I'm dying to know what you guys are going to think of what's coming up! **_


	16. Chapter 16

_**Author's Note:**_

_**Anything worth doing is worth doing right, so the chapters here on out will earn their M rating for sure. Please read responsibly! **__**Without further ado…**_

**CHAPTER 16**

Less than five minutes later, Temperance Brennan was still wrapped in her robe but packed and ready to return to the lab – and Booth, if he wanted her – the next day. Hands on her hips, she looked down at her sad little travel bag and wondered how she could have ever let emotion rule her normally rational nature. She was not a quitter and the only thing running had accomplished was creating an abrupt end to her partnership with Booth.

At that thought there came a sudden knock on her door, which caused her to jump. Without a thought, she went over and pulled open the door to get her towels… and almost passed out.

Booth was standing there, in a wet t-shirt and jeans with two white towels draped over his arm, filling her doorframe with his presence. It was as if time stood still. She gasped.

He was looking at her with a face full of emotion, his warm brown eyes incredulous, passionate and slightly teary. "It's really you," he whispered into the stunned silence first.

"Oh," was the only sound she could manage, taking a few steps back and inadvertently leaving room for him to enter. He came in and stood next to the open door. He looked so devastatingly handsome that she literally felt breathless. Here he was, wet and gorgeous and he had found her. All the feelings she had compartmentalized for years came screaming back to the surface. How could she have ever pushed him away? How could she have denied him and what he meant to her for so long?

He put his left hand out slightly, palm down as if to calm her from bolting out the door behind him. She deduced she must look as stunned as she felt. "You're really here," he said softly.

"Booth…" she whispered, her hand at her damp chest as if to calm her furiously beating heart. She never did catch her breath because before she knew it, Booth closed the gap between them and their lips crashed together. The forgotten towels dropped to the floor as he kicked the door closed behind him. Brennan's arms came around him even as he almost knocked her off her feet as their passion erupted. The feeling of his lips on hers was so satisfying that her lips automatically parted in awe. His tongue found the quick opportunity in and he plundered her mouth, eliciting a helpless groan from her even as she tried to press herself as close to him as humanly possible. He tasted amazing, she realized as her tongue battled his for dominance. Her breasts were smashed against his rock hard chest and the instant rubbing of the bathrobe caused her nipples to almost instantaneously harden. His hands worked their way up her up and tangled in her damp hair, letting him tip her head and allowing him deeper access to her mouth. All the while, all coherent thoughts escaped her except the knowledge that he had found her. He wanted her _that much_. She felt it: she was surrounded by it.

"Bones," he murmured, coming up for air while still holding her head in his big hands. His ragged breathing brushed across her damp cheeks and she was startled to find that tears had fallen from her closed eyes. "Bones." Her dazed blue parted, her gaze finding his face as he reluctantly and slowly released the tight grip he hand on her. Her arousal was so acute from the kiss that the rubbing of the robe on her nipples was almost unbearable and made her distinctly aware that all she wore was a robe while he was wet and fully clothed. At least she wasn't the only one aroused, though – there was no mistaking how much Booth wanted her. She could feel his incredibly long, hard length pressed up against her stomach. The realization of where they were headed next made her pull back abruptly.

"No. No," she said, turning her head away from his as she struggled to move out of his arms even as she knew she didn't ever want to leave his embrace again. He let her go. "Hannah," she whispered, not bringing herself to even look at him and daring herself to vocalize the factor in her extrication from his arms. "We can't."

Not responding, he took a step back and she felt the loss of his body heat. After a moment she made herself look at him and she could see that he was still catching his breath, but his eyes still burned with the same intensity she saw when she opened the door. His hands were on his hips, his fists closed and knuckles white, his stance… well, predatory. For the first time in a long time, she had no idea what he was really thinking. "Why?" he demanded, his voice hoarse. He seemed to try and form the words, but all that came out again was, "Why?"

"I-I had to go," Brennan responded, her voice small. She felt so exposed.

"Not good enough, Bones." He looked her right in the eye and she felt like a squirming suspect in his interrogation room. Booth-interrogations had aroused her for years as she sat on the sidelines or participated in the questioning, but it was nothing compared to the arousal she was experiencing now.

Booth knew he had no right to be angry – after all, Hannah was his fault – but he couldn't help asking, "Why?"

She pulled the robe tighter around her and forced herself to vocalize her rationale for leaving. Booth wouldn't settle for anything less than the truth. She found her voice."Despite my best efforts to quell such observations, it had become increasingly difficult these past months to watch you form a deep emotional attachment to Hannah. I made it clear it was a decision I regretted, yet you stayed in your committed relationship. And rightly so," she added quickly, noticing he was about to say something. She wasn't ready to listen yet. "We both know that my actions at Sweet's karaoke night were most likely a culmination of those suppressed emotions. My inebriation hindered my normally compartmentalized feelings: it was a public humiliation of my own creation, but the reason why?" Her chin came up and he saw determination set in her expression. He recognized that she was gearing up for an argument and he was out of patience. "You were going to leave anyway, Booth. You were going to New York – you were ending our partnership. _You_ were leaving. I just decided to beat you to it."

That was it. "You didn't even check with me!" he exploded, the sound reverberating on the walls. She flinched. His frustration and fury were evident, but he was careful in keeping his distance from her. "You never gave me a chance to talk to you about any of it. What the fuck were you thinking, Bones?"

"I had my sources!" She shot back, her hands now coming down and resting on her hips, leaving her robe to gape open a bit.

"Bullshit. The only source you needed was me, but you never bothered. In fact, I seem to remember a text telling me in no uncertain terms that you didn't want to talk to me. That you didn't need me." He pointed to his chest angrily. He mentally cursed himself again for the horrible way the events of that weekend unfolded as he tried to keep his anger in check. The last thing in the world he wanted was for her to run out the door or call security on him – that might literally break his heart.

"I couldn't talk to you after Hannah told me. She said the two of you were moving there for her job. I know you, Booth – you were most likely reticent to tell me because you didn't want to cause me emotional distress by ending six years of partnership."

Booth's eyes narrowed. "So you just bailed."

She shook her head. "I concluded that time away would benefit both of us, but more than that, I declined prolonging the inevitable. You deserved to move on without interference from me or a sense of past obligation."

He waited until she looked him in the eye. "I wasn't going anywhere without talking to you."

His sentence stopped her short. The way he had said it – so simply and so suddenly calm – caught her off guard. "But... but that doesn't change anything," she replied, trying to suppress the sudden indecision in how she had planned to proceed in this argument. Leave it to Booth to alter her train of thought. "It doesn't change the fact that Hannah was offered the job in New York and the fact that you were thinking of transferring there." His face was unreadable as he took a step towards her and she automatically took a step back. "It doesn't change the knowledge that you stayed with her after I admitted I made a mistake, or that you looked back at her in the parking lot after I foolishly admitted that I wanted you." Another step forward and she took another step back. "It doesn't change the fact that you bought her a ring." Her voice broke even as tears sprang to her eyes. It mattered to her astronomically more than she would have ever predicted: "She said you were getting married."

He shook his head, his expression calmer but his eyes fiercer than when he had lost his temper. "She said that: Hannah said that. It wasn't her ring, Bones," he said evenly. "I never gave it to her. Christ, I never even proposed to her. I couldn't."

Her world seemed to spin. Was it possible she – Temperance Brennan – was the reason why? Did Booth still want her? Did he still… want to give a romantic relationship with her a try? Suddenly there was only one question in her mind that needed to be answered. Everything that happened now depended on how he would answer. "Booth, tell me why you are really here. Are you still with Hannah?"

_**Author's Note:**_

_**It looks like we'll be going about 20 chapters, everyone, so I hope you're enjoying the story! I was so excited for this showdown of our beloved Booth and Brennan. Can I beg a little for reviews? I'm especially curious to know what you guys think of the B&B reunion thus far…there's more in store! :-)**_


	17. Chapter 17

_**Author's Note:**_

_**A cyber high-five and an imaginary King of the Lab plaque to the first person who recognizes the twice-repeated line in this chapter and tells me which episode it's from. (It's my favorite Bones episode, if I had to rank them). **_

**CHAPTER 17**

Booth stood inches from her and in a flash, the furiousness back in his eyes and his jaw clenched. "Jesus, Bones, after what she did to come between us, do you think I could ever accept being with her? Do you think that from the moment you ran away from me I could ever consider spending my life with the person who took you out of it? No. No, I'm not with Hannah."

Brennan's hand came up to his chest and she felt his heart racing beneath the hot, damp t-shirt. "I never meant to come between you, Booth," she said tentatively. She had only seen Booth this desperately passionate a handful of times before: it left her unprepared in terms of expectations of his reactions.

The touch of her small hand on his chest moved him and he covered her hand with one of his own. It felt so small under his. "She came between us, Bones. What's even worse is that I let her. I shouldn't have stayed with her as long as I did and I'm sorry for it. I didn't let myself consider…" his thought trailed off with a shake of his head. "I should have told you how much you're a part of my life. Maybe then, you wouldn't have taken off on me. Maybe we could have avoided this hell I've been living in without you."

His body practically radiated with barely-contained passion. Her breathing quickened. "I – I never meant to hurt you."

He took a step even closer, his body practically touching hers as her hand stayed right where it was. It was then that she realized she had retreated so far that her back was pressed up against the wall next to the window. It was cold on her back. "They found a body, Bones," he whispered roughly, tears springing to his eyes as he let go of her hand. "They found a body in the Potomac that matched your physical description. For a few hellish minutes," he shook his head, "I thought it was you. I thought something had happened to you and I couldn't save you. I thought I'd never get to tell you how I really feel about you. I thought I lost you forever."

She forgot to breathe for a moment. "Booth…"

He blinked back tears as his dark brown eyes searched her face. "I realized, though, that it couldn't be you. The way this woman died, alone and hopeless," his thought trailed off as he saw tears escape her cobalt eyes. They both knew where he was going with his train of thought. "I realized that I knew it couldn't be you." He paused. "I knew you wouldn't give up."

What had she ever done in her life to deserve someone who cared about her so much? His faith in her, his devotion to her humbled her and left her almost speechless. There was no way she could ever make up for how she had hurt him. She didn't know if she could ever come to terms with the damage she unintentionally inflicted on him. All of this – all of this was for her. "I'm sorry, Booth," she whispered as she pulled him forward to her and wrapped her arms around him. "So sorry," she murmured, her face up against his rock hard chest. He let her stay there for a moment. She felt so good in his arms, as if she had always belonged there.

Gently, he pulled her back and away from him, taking his hand and bringing her face up to his with a slight lift of her chin with his fingers. "Don't ever leave me again, Bones," he said calmly, his eyes boring into hers with such intense desire and challenge that she flattened her hands on the wall behind her to give her extra support. His eyes wandered down to her heaving chest barely covered by the robe and back up to her face. Electricity seemed to spark between them. "I mean it. If you're done with me, tell me to my face. But don't you dare ever walk out the door on me without so much as a word – understood?"

She nodded, her mouth dry at combination of his dominating demeanor and his devotion to her.

"You know I'll find you. I don't care how far you run or what your motivations are: I… will… find… you." He accented each word and there was no doubt in her mind that he meant it.

It thrilled and terrified her simultaneously. She couldn't believe he what he was offering: it was the second chance she hadn't allowed herself to consider. Hope built inside her but she couldn't help the hesitance and timidity in her voice. "Does this mean - do you mean you'll take me back?"

Leaning into her, Booth's hands came up to gently touch the sides of her face as he gazed into her questioning eyes. "I never wanted to be without you. I love you, Temperance Brennan, and I always will."

Her heart seemed to burst with joy at his words, as Brennan crushed her lips to Booth's. He met her lips quickly, tearing his hands from her almost dry hair and moving them to her shoulders so he could plunder the depths of her mouth with his tongue. All she could think was how all-consuming he was. He seemed to be everywhere: tongues dueling, his knee pushing between her legs, her body pressed between his and the wall. His arousal was back, tenfold. Somewhere in the back of her mind she couldn't believe she had almost lost him – lost his love – forever. "I knew you'd find me, Booth," she said breathlessly as she came up for air and he trailed open mouthed kisses down the column of her neck. "I knew you wouldn't give up."

At her words Booth pulled back slightly, his usually warm brown eyes dark with passion. He couldn't believe the faith she had in him: after everything he had done to push her away, here she was telling him that she knew he'd look for her. She had hoped for this – hoped he would love her enough not to give up. It humbled him. Brennan looked back at him, her lips swollen and wanton and her breath caught as he ran his hand gently from the column of her neck to the collar of her robe. With a slight push, the robe fell loosely off her shoulders, exposing her breasts to the chill of the open air. The areolas were tight and longing for his attention. "So perfect," he whispered reverently, taking in the sight of her as she shuttered in anticipation. He ran a finger from her collarbone down slowly – painfully slowly. A sudden pinch of her nipple by his fingers sent a shockwave through Brennan and she gasped. Without warning Booth's talented mouth aggressively soothed the areola and sent desire coursing through her. Trying to catch her breath, she looked down almost disbelieving at the sight of him sucking her straining breasts, each nipple a tight peak of nerves. She had to touch him now! With Brennan's insistent pulling of his t-shirt on his back, Booth tore his mouth away from her for a moment to pull the t-shirt over his head.

Brennan couldn't believe how the sight of his naked chest made her feel so weak in the knees. It was true she had often admired his perfectly sculpted abdominal, pectoral and deltoid muscles before, but knowing that he was this way for her now made it somehow all the more impressive. She didn't have long to admire him, however, because his mouth came crushing back to hers, while his other hand pushed away the loose tie of her robe. It fell to the floor. The way he looked at her, with such carnal hunger and devotion, left her breathless. Never before had she felt so cherished. So wanted. "Stunning," he whispered to her as she brought one of her legs up behind his thigh and using the wall as additional leverage, moved even closer into him than before. Her nails dug into the skin of his shoulders and back as their tongues intertwined. He felt so right in her arms. He felt like home.

One of her hands worked its way between their tightly pressed bodies even as she tilted her hips forward expectantly. Booth had her hauled up against the wall with one arm around her back lifting her, the other paying attention to her breast, kneading, tugging and rolling the peaks expertly. "No." he said suddenly, taking his mouth from hers and moving his hand from her breast down to capture her hand. It had been traveling to the waistband of his jeans in search for the erection she felt: the erection she craved. Booth was afraid that if she touched him he would have exploded right then and there: no way in hell was he going to come first. He had been taught that ladies go first and he couldn't wait to instill that lesson in the good doctor.

_**Author's Note:**_

_**Okay, boys and girls – this will be my first attempt at writing smut, so I hope it doesn't let you down and lives up to your hopes and dreams for Booth and Bones. **_


	18. Chapter 18

_**Author's Note:**_

_**Yay! Six brilliant Bones fans got it right: the line "I knew you wouldn't give up" was in "Aliens in a Spaceship" (such a good episode!). I'm so impressed -King/Queen of the Labs to each of them! :-)**_

_**Thank you again to all of those who are reviewing and offering encouragement or putting the story on alert. You guys are the best! I write for you. **_

**CHAPTER 18**

Brennan groaned in impatience. Damn Booth for denying her! She was so wet she could feel it on her thighs. "Take me," she said between labored breaths.

Booth smiled devastatingly, taking her hands and holding them with one of his hands above her head and pinning her into the wall with his own body. Excitement coursed through her. "I'll take you when I say you're ready," he responded. She could tell he was as aroused as she was by his heavy breathing and the glint in his eyes. It made her feel powerful that she could affect him like this. "I'll take you when I've made you scream."

Brennan sucked in her breath at his words. She couldn't help it: she found his alpha male aggression absolutely arousing. Why didn't he just fuck her already? Her straining breasts lifted higher, getting Booth's attention as he returned his mouth to her chest. He kept her hands pinned to the wall above her head, but gently set her down. She tried to support her own weight and remain standing. Her knees buckled almost immediately, though, when the Booth's large hand suddenly cupped her mound. "Yes," she whimpered.

He lifted his head to hers, their foreheads meeting. "Jesus, Bones, you're soaked," he muttered into her ear, his fingers lightly tracing the outline of her folds.

"For you," she said softly as he rubbed her clit with his thumb. His intimate touch made her shudder.

"For me," he growled as he plunged two fingers inside her. The breath left her lungs at the sensation of Booth inside of her. Finally. God, his fingers were large. "So tight," Booth gasped as he trailed kisses along the side of her neck, still keeping her in place with his other hand and his torso. He couldn't believe it. Bones was small but clenching at him desperately.

"It's been…" she tried to form coherent words, which was almost impossible since Booth's fingers started to plunge deeper within her, "… awhile. Since before…" he plunged again as she angled her hips, "Andrew."

He stopped moving abruptly, holding her in place with his hand inside of her, but letting go of her wrists. He brought his head back to look at her as she draped her arms around his neck, ready to hang on. "You mean, you didn't-?" he couldn't vocalize the thought, looking deep in her glittery blue eyes.

She shook her head. "No." She wiggled to get him to move within her, but succeeded in pulling him deeper instead. She groaned.

"Thank God," he muttered. "You have no idea how many times I fantasized about killing my own boss." Brennan gave a short chuckle, but she was too close.

She traced the edge of his impressive and rugged jaw with her finger as he shivered at her gentle touch."Please, Booth."

It didn't take her plea to make him move. Booth's fingers jammed hard into her, sending her reeling at the sensation. "Mine, Bones, mine," he demanded, his fingers twisting and moving inventively. From inside she felt how deliciously rough his fingers were from years of holding a gun, adding an entirely new dimension to her already stimulated walls while his thumb rubbed her clitoris aggressively. The only sound in the room the sound of her ragged breathing and the sucking of her lube on his hand. It was so arousing it drove her wild. She saw his jaw set and determination and desire in his eyes. "I'm yours, Bones, and you're mine."

"Yes," she cried, getting closer to coming apart. "I'm yours." She gasped. "You're mine." At her declaration, he shoved a third finger deep within her womb, causing her fingers to tighten in his short hair as she held his head to hers and claimed his mouth for hers. She made a mewling sound at the sensation of three fingers invading her. Her walls grasped at him as his pace became feverish and her back and head began to thump against the wall. He put his other hand behind her head to keep her from hitting too hard, and the thoughtfulness of the action almost made her come right then and there. Booth fought for air himself as she dripped all over his hand and he pumped harder and higher inside of her. Curling his fingers, he found her rigid spot inside her, while he dragged the nail of his thumb across her clitoris and she flew apart. "Booth!"

An orgasm came crashing down on her. From the inside out Booth felt the wave overtake her as she screamed his name. Her shaking legs gave way and she began to slid down, causing his fingers to delve deep within her again, wracking another orgasm from her before the first had come to fruition. Brennan felt as if she would implode with pleasure. The intensity was overwhelming. With a swift move, Booth pulled her up and lifted her into his arms as if she were nearly weightless. His strength was overwhelming. "I want," she tried to form a coherent sentence as she put her face in the crook of his neck to breathe in the scent of him; "I want you inside of me."

_**Author's Note:**_

_**More coming! **_

_***chuckles* **_

_**No pun intended.**_


	19. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER 19**

Booth lowered her to the bed, his brown eyes burning with desire. Pulling back, as she leaned forward to try to support herself on her elbows even though she shook from her last two orgasms, he took off the rest of his clothing. The sight of him standing naked in front of her, so proudly strong, confident and blatantly _male, _left her speechless. He was beautiful: there was simply no other word for it. His erection sprang out, large and foreboding. Hesitantly, Brennan bit her lip. Would Booth actually fit inside of her? She was so tight and he was just so large. "It's okay, Bones," he assured her, as if reading her thoughts. "We'll fit."

At his words, her legs opened and he came forward, aligning his body with hers. At the first touch of their naked skin touching all of each other, they both sighed at the rightness of the sensation. He leaned down to kiss her tenderly and within moments, the sweetness of the kiss grew into hunger until she was drowning in him. The world outside of the hotel room disappeared. He trailed open mouthed kisses down the length of her body, stopping for awhile at her breasts, lavishing them with attention until she was squirming. She arched off the bed, though, when his mouth trailed down her stomach and claimed her mound, his tongue returning to the place his fingers had been only minutes before. She cried aloud the sensation. "So sweet," he murmured into her as her hands came down to his head. She tried to pull him up.

"I want – I want you in me," she gasped, feeling herself building again.

His response was one of his large hands on her stomach, holding her in place as her hips began to undulate uncontrollably, trying to take his tongue deeper. He looked up briefly, challenge in his dark eyes. "Soon."

The response he received was a wordless moan from her. She couldn't possibly come again, she thought distractedly, even as her body betrayed her thoughts and began to build towards a climax. Unbridled lust raged through her as she watched through half-open eyes Booth go down on her. She could hear his mouth against her even as he thrust within her. He curled his tongue and she let forth a wail of pleasure. With a sudden nip of his teeth on her sensitive bud, she exploded with a ragged scream like a firework on the fourth of July.

"God, that was beautiful," Booth whispered reverently, moving up the length of her body. As she floated down, she heard him tear the foil of a packet and realized he was fitting himself with a condom. If only she had any strength left in her she's put it on him and make him as delirious as he'd made her. Next time, she thought as she suppressed a smile.

Within moments, she felt him poise at her entrance. When she opened her eyes again, he filled her vision. With a small, trusting smile, she opened her legs farther and he began a slow push inside of her, giving her time to stretch around him to accommodate his length and size.

With each inch Booth moved forward, more and more breath left Brennan's lungs. God, he felt good. His eyes searched her face, carefully watching her reaction and she helplessly stared back at him, lost in the wonderment of the knowledge that he was with her. When he was fully embedded inside of her, he thoughtfully stilled to give her time to adjust to him. The only thought running through her head though was realization at how complete she felt now. The were aligned perfectly. The moment was perfection.

He leaned close, his breath on her face. "We're a part of each other, Bones," he said softly.

Booth's words, the look in his eyes touched her to the core. Tentatively, she drew her legs up and the resulting snap of pleasure elicited a groan from Booth. "Yes," she breathed, half in satisfaction and half in agreement to his statement as she angled her hips. That was all the encouragement he needed to begin moving inside of her. All rational thought flew out the window as electricity coursed through them, every nerve ending raw.

As his fingers traced the edges of her face, Booth felt carried away by the look in Bones' beautiful blue eyes, which were wide with amazement and light. He was putting that light there and the realization moved him as he increased his tempo deep within her core, the sensation of her walls clenching him so pleasurable it was almost painful. Unable to resist, he recaptured her mouth in a searing kiss as her arms came around his waist, clasping him to her. He let her taste herself on his tongue as he gripped her. Between the kiss and his thrusts, Brennan realized she was breathless as their lips parted and she fought for air. His open mouth traveled down the column of her throat as his cock speared her body. "You're… so… hard…" she whispered, carried away by the sensation.

"You're so fucking tight," he replied, into her neck. "So sexy and soft everywhere." His response from her were wordless moans. She was close, but he wanted to watch her writhe with passion and to see a goddamn miracle flash across her face.

Fists clenched in the mattress by either side of her head, Booth raised himself up on his forearms so he could pump harder into her, and she saw his sinewy muscles ripple causing her arousal to heighten even more, if possible. God she loved how strong he was. She had no doubt that he could slow fuck her all night, but she wanted to come and she wanted it now. "Booth," she managed, unable to help the plea in her voice.

With a smile but seriousness in his eyes, Booth raised his head, looked at her intently and said; "Stay with me."

In that moment there was only one answer that Temperance Brennan would ever give to that statement from the man she'd wanted for so long. "Always," she whispered as she raised her knees up as she tilted her hips, taking him as deeply as she could.

Booth's last semblance of control snapped. Letting go of his iron grip on her hip, he began plummeting the depths of her core, his arm coming down to hitch her knees and pull them closer to her chest, giving him new angles and unbelievable reach into her as he filled and stretched her. Pulling back and slamming back in, her gorgeous, full breasts bounced with each thrust, her head thrown back in delirium, back arched and her beautiful auburn hair spilling across the tangled bed sheets: it was a sight he would never forget as he let himself go in her and at her wildly. Thrust after thrust he bumped against the end of her walls as wordless screams came from her mouth. The onslaught of pleasure was too much and she lost sensation of everything but him. He hammered into her and she let herself be taken over as her walls cramped. The feeling of him swelling hugely inside her was overwhelming, and then he flicked her clitoris. "Love… you... Bones…" he declared. The beauty of his words sent her over the edge.

Brennan gripped him like an iron vice from within as she felt as if she were flying, dizzy with pleasure as her vision blurred into white light. "Booth!" she screamed, as a wracking, all-consuming climax seized her, harder and more earth-shattering than anything she'd ever experienced.

Booth roared her name as his release crashed down on him as he spilled long and hard into his Bones. The lightning bolt of sensation at his orgasm, so close to her own, sent her over the edge again as an aftershock turned into another climax, her body no longer under her own control. She clung to him as if her life depended on it, her legs trembling as he slid down onto her, their skin damp with perspiration. "Oh, God," she groaned, unable to move but deliciously pinned beneath him. Never had she felt more safe or sated.

The felt the rumble of amusement in his chest and into her ear. "Nah, not God, but thanks for the ego boost," he chuckled contentedly. She swatted his muscular chest teasingly. Aware that he was probably squishing her Booth flopped onto his back, pulling her on top of him, unwilling to let her go.

After a moment, she tilted her face from the cradle of his pectoral muscles to look at him. "Booth," she said, her voice small and hoarse from the screams he had elicited from her just moments before. He looked at her, and the expression on her face took his breath away. Everything he needed to know was written all over her face. "I love you, too."

His heart exploded with joy. Overwhelmed, Booth gently pulled her face up to his and kissed her tenderly. She carried him away with her, completely. "Christ, Bones, I love you. Always have," he said after a moment.

She smiled back at him, looking utterly content and happy, her chin resting on his chest. "Booth?"

"Yeah?"

"I've decided, based on firsthand knowledge now, to reiterate that I concede to a point you made years ago, during a conversation we had at the diner." Her eyes reflected her wonder and realization. "That was the miracle you spoke of."

_**Author's Note:**_

_**Hang onto your discarded Cocky belt buckles and garish socks, kids, 'cause (like Booth and Brennan!) we're not through yet! There will be an epilogue!**_


	20. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE**

"Did you order room service?" Brennan asked, one eye peeking out from the fluffy pillow to look at Booth, who was returning the hotel room's phone to its cradle.

He was leaning against the headboard and looking at her with smile. "You'd better believe it. We have to eat something besides each other sometime, Bones."

Lying on her stomach, she propped herself up on her forearms. "The human body can last several days without food for nourishment, Booth, although it is not recommended and would inevitably cause acute starvation." When she saw his eyes dance with delight, she said, "Oh, you were being amusing. I apologize."

"No need, baby," he replied, sinking into the bed and pulling her close to him. She came willingly, finding that the only place she'd wanted to be these past two days since Booth had found her was here, in his arms. It was good they hadn't left the bed much, outside of a joint shower, floor or wall venture. That morning, she had serenaded him with a very literal rendition of "I Touch Myself" – the way she had imagined weeks before – and the results of the orgasms achieved through that venture left marks on both of them. She was certain her legs would no longer support her and her core ached wonderfully. This had undoubtedly been the best two days of her life and it was clear to her now that she and Booth would be together indefinitely. She never wanted to be without him again.

"It's ironic we ended up here, isn't it?" Booth muttered in her hair.

She pulled back a little to look at him in confusion. "I don't know what that means. We both arrived by standard modes of transportation."

"I mean here, Bones, right near the FBI offices above the courtyard where… where…" he didn't know exactly how to finish that sentence.

Brennan nodded, her finger lightly tracing his smooth chest. "I chose it to remind myself of what I thought I had lost. Irrationally, I thought it would make me feel closer to you."

With a look of utter seriousness, Booth touched the side of her face gently. "I'm sorry, Bones. I never want to be the reason you leave ever again. I can't imagine my life without you. Please… stay."

Placing a small kiss on his chest where her fingers had been moments before, her blue eyes found his intent brown ones. "I told you my answer already, Booth, and I never say anything I don't mean or without fully realizing its implications. Always. If you want me, I will stay with you always."

He gave her a short kiss, reveling in the newfound intimacy they shared. "That's exactly what I want."

"I do have a question, though," she responded, sitting up on the back of her legs and pulling the sheet up around her to cover her breasts. He thought her modesty was sweet and enduring and entirely unexpected, given her normally practical view of the human body.

Booth sat up against the headboard again, reading seriousness in her tone. "Anything."

"When I spoke with Hannah, she said she found the ring in your drawer that you purchased with the intent to propose to her. You told me that you never proposed to her. Was it your intent to ask her to marry you and therefore give her the ring?"

His heart rate picked up and he knew he wanted to answer her very carefully, so he could leave no misconceptions about what he had done, thought or hoped for as far as the rest of his life was concerned. He wasn't going to screw up again.

"I do have a ring in my sock drawer, Bones," he said softly, watching her face carefully. "Remember when Pops came to stay with me for awhile?" All he got from her was an uncertain nod of the head. "Well, he brought me my Grandmother's ring with him. He gave it to me," Booth said, unable to stop himself from lightly touching her arm. She didn't pull away. "Jared gave Padme our mother's ring, but Pops always knew that I wanted Grandma's ring instead. See, she and Pops," he paused, lost deep in memory as she studied his face more carefully than any set of bones that had ever lain on the examination table. "Well, they had a really happy marriage, Bones. They were devoted to each other from the beginning. They didn't do a thing without the other. They were like one person." His voice had grown so quiet that she almost had a hard time hearing. His eyes came back to her wide blue ones. "That's the kind of marriage I wanted, Bones. When he gave it to me, he told me I should give it to you. That you were the one for me." For the first time, a corner of his mouth lifted in a half smile. Not for the first time since she had opened her door two days ago, Brennan forgot to breathe at the sight of how handsome he was, especially when he smiled. "I know you are against the institution of marriage as an archaic practice that goes against the natural order of human behavior, but ever since then, I've sort of thought of it as your ring."

He felt like he had let a bomb drop and felt tempted to wait and watch with one eye closed to see what happened when it detonated. Instead he studied her reaction, but Bones didn't seem phased. "So, you're telling me that you were in possession of a ring but it wasn't your intent to marry Hannah?"

Booth sat forward, his strong arms resting on his legs. "Ultimately, no, Bones. I will admit, there was a time when I considered what it would be like to spend the rest of my life with her, but I couldn't bring myself to the point of proposing." He paused. "There was a certain gorgeous, intelligent, capable, sexy forensic anthropologist who had my heart already."

A smile spread across her face. It took his breath away how she could just light up like that. "And humorous. You forgot humorous."

"Oh, yes, absolutely. Humorous as hell."

Brennan put her free hand on top of Booth's, which still rested on her arm. "I understand, Booth. Thank you for the clarification."

He grinned back at her. "Anytime, Bones."

Satisfied, she lay back down beside him and immediately came into his arms, which caused his smile t o widen. Who knew his Bones liked to cuddle? It was one of those many little delights he couldn't wait to discover. Being with her now, having her finally know how much he truly loved her gave him more peace than he'd ever known. If it took him the rest of his life, he'd spend every minute of it convincing her through his actions how true his love for her really was. She was like dynamite; trusting, fearless and open with him and he knew he was the only one to ever truly know her like this. It was a gift. Christ, this had been the best two days of his life.

"Booth?"

He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat at the emotion he felt for her as one hand stroked her absently. "Yeah, Bones?"

"Anthropology aside, I find that I am no longer personally opposed to the concept of matrimony or the joining of familial, monetary and societal obligations prescribed with the formal action." Her chin came up and rested on his chest, a small smile playing across her lips. At his dumfounded look and apparent speechlessness, she added, "I find I now rather like the concept of being joined to just one person indefinitely: as long as it's you."

If he lived to be a hundred years old, Booth knew he'd never forget this moment or never know a life where Bones wouldn't continue to surprise him. She changed her mind about marriage? When exactly had this happened? He must be better in bed than even he realized! "Really?"

Brennan nodded as she sat up, amused at the look of shock on his face. "Yes. I believe that years of listening to you describe its positive attributes, witnessing it firsthand with Hodgins and Angela and now knowing that we are more than extremely compatible in terms of physical intercourse that it is enough evidence to convince me that I would appreciate the same." Her expression turned serious as he raised himself up on his arms. "Booth, I am now quite aware that I do not wish to be separated from you anymore, personally or professionally."

He couldn't get over where this conversation was heading. "Temperance Brennan, are you proposing to me?"

She looked a little flustered at his question. "No, um, I'm not necessarily doing that. I just wanted to inform you that should you want to give me the ring in the drawer I would give you a favorable response."

Oh my God, was all Booth could think as he resisted the urge to jump out of bed and dance naked around the hotel room. Bones wanted to get married! It took all of his self-control to not ask her right then and there on the spot: somewhere in his subconscious he knew that it would be too much too soon for her if he got down on one knee today. They just started a physical, romantic relationship and he didn't want to overwhelm her by throwing marriage onto it. Then again, Booth knew he couldn't wait long to make her his - and vice versa - in every sense. She was the one for him and she always would be. They had waited long enough.

"Okay, thanks," he said casually, plopping back down on the bed, as he folded his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling.

Puzzled by his reaction, Brennan brushed her hair behind her ear. "So I deduce you find this information useful since you are not acting upon it now?"

Booth couldn't help but grin at her impatience. Playfully, he took her by the upper arms and pulled her down on top of him. "Oh, I do find it extremely useful, Bones," he said, his voice low and husky. Slowly, he began to pull the sheet away that separated them. "I promise to act verbally upon said information with the previously discussed ring at an undisclosed point in the near future."

She straddled him. "Good."

"I do plan to act physically on a declaration of eternal love for you right now, though," he whispered as she bent down to place kisses along his prominent jaw and throat.

"Thank God," she said on a sigh.

Laughing, Booth rolled her beneath him. "Does this mean I got you to believe in God, too, Bones?"

She returned his laugh with a chuckle of her own as her hand grasped his rapidly growing erection. "One thing at a time, Booth. I think you were saying something about acting on a declaration of love?"

Neither of them heard room service knock on the door.

_**Author's Note:**_

_**I'm SO thankful for each of you who have put this story on alert or shared how much you love this story! Your reviews have meant the world to me. I'm sad to see the story end, but I'm so happy it's made you happy and that you love these characters like I do! Enjoy the rest of season 6! (Here's hoping things look up for our beloved Booth and Brennan!). Hugs, Regina.**_


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